One Big Wish Come True
by lexikiryuu
Summary: For as Long as I could remember, I've wished that I could read people out of books, Stories and T.V shows. But what would you do if Your one wish, The one that You wanted more then anything else, came true? well, this is what happens when mine does! A INKHEART FANFICTION! IT WILL HAVE SPOILERS! SO IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THE BOOKS IF YOU WANT TO READ THEM THEN DO
1. Dustfinger's Backstory

Dustfinger. He has sandy colored hair that falls down to his shoulders. With him, you can always find a horned marten named Gwin and a boy named Farid. Dustfinger is a fire-breather and in his world, he can talk to the fire, thanks to the fire-elfs honey com. But in our world, he can't talk to it. In our world, he can't even tell it to do tricks. Because our world doesn't have magic, which means no fire-elfs, which means no fire-elf honey com, which means no talking to fire. All he wants to do is go home. To his Family. To his friends and just to his own world. He teaches Farid how to use fire, but it's very hard since all he wants to do is stick a match in his mouth. A lit match at that. Dustfinger keeps telling the boy no, but he does it anyways and ends up burning his mouth. Gwin on the other hand bites Dustfinger all the time, but loves Farid. How Dustfinger got to our world, you're wondering? Well, ten years ago, a man named Mo read Dustfinger out, along with two other men and his marten, Gwin. Mo's wife, Teresa, went into the book along with their two cats and a bug of some kind. So, now he's stuck in our world for who knows how much longer.


	2. Farid's Backstory

Farid. A boy with dark hair. Mo read him out of a book called 'Tales of the Arabian nights.' But, unlike Dustfinger, he never wants to go back to his book. His role model is Dustfinger. At first, Farid is really bad at doing tricks with fire, but he does get loved the world he was brought into, better then being with thief's. He loves Gwin. He can be very quiet and stealthy. Can sneak anywhere, is afraid of ghost, witches and thinks they are everywhere in the darkness. He's a half full glass type of person. Loves to impress people, Dustfinger most of all. He tries to do more then he is ready for to fast. He loves helping out Dustfinger and Mo at everything and he tries to excel at everything he does. You most likely be able to find Dustfinger and Gwin with him. If not them then maybe even his love Meggie. His only wish is to be with Dustfinger forever and to be one of the best fire-breathers in the world. 


	3. OUR FIRST MEETING!

One day, I even got to meet him. When I went for a walk, I was at my great grandma's house and my mom let me go for a walk around a block or two. This year, I was turning sixteen. I have short brown hair that when down goes to my shoulders, but right now was up in a pony-tail, and blue-gray eyes. I wasn't sixteen just yet, I was still fifteen.

It was more towards the end of spring when its still cool outside, but warming up and my birthday is in summer. As I was walking, I felt something bite my ankle, so I looked down to see a little fuzzy animal.

I've never seen something like it around here before. "Well. . . Aren't you cute? now, what are you?" I ask it. it just looked at me with its little beady eyes like it wanted me to pick it up. So, even though I knew I shouldn't, I picked it up, sitting down on the side of the road. I petted its head and felt something by its ears.

"What the. . . ?" I split the fur on top of its head and when I did, I almost dropped it. What I saw was unbelievable. It had horns on top of its little head. "What are you?"  
>"So. . . there you are, Gwin." I froze. That voice was a males voice, it was familiar and it was coming from right behind me. I was just sitting there, scared to see who it was. "Did you bite this girl?"<p>

'Wait. . . This animal has horns,he bites people, his name is Gwin. . . Does that mean the man behind me is?!' I thought. I turned to look and there he stood. I was right. Dustfinger.

"Is he a marten?" I ask. 'Stupid! Why did you ask him that?! Ask him something else!'  
>"Yes. . . It looks like you found his horns."<p>

I just nodded.

Beside him was a boy with short, dark hair and I knew right away who he was. It was Farid. He was just staring down at me with shock.  
>"Hey! he's not biting her right now!"<p>

"Your. . . Did he bite you at all?" Dustfinger ask, kneeling down next to me.

I nodded since that's all I could do.

"Where?"

I moved so he could see my ankle, and when I saw it, it really started to hurt since it was Bleeding.

"Ow. . . it hurts." I whispered.

Dustfinger grabbed Gwin, gave him to Farid, grabbed his backpack and touched the marten bite. I jerked away from him because it really hurt when he touched it.

"OUCH! That does hurt!" I yelled at him. He just sighed and looked at Farid. "Get in there and grab the ointment and the Bandages. . . And don't give him any bread! Not when he bites!"

Farid dropped the piece of bread and hurried to get the stuff out. Since it was spring, I was wearing jeans and socks, so he had to push up the jeans and pull down the sock.

"What are you doing?" I ask. He glanced up at me and held out his hand, so the boy could put the stuff he ask for in his hand.

"What does it look like?" He sighed, "I'm going to fix the wound Gwin gave you." As he put the ointment on my ankle, I watched him. Flinched away when it really hurt.  
>I just really hate it when it doesn't hurt until you see it.<p> 


	4. I hope we meet again

The whole time he was Doctoring it, I never took my eyes off of him. When he was done, he stood up and stretched.

"There. . . Now, Please tell me you can still walk."

I smiled and tried to get up, but just fell back down with a 'Thud.'

"Uh. . .I don't think she can. How is she going to get home, now? We can't just leave her here!" Farid said while looking at Dustfinger. I looked at them with sad eyes. I was ready for him to leave me to walk beck by myself, but the next thing I knew, I was on Dustfinger's back. My eyes as wide as they could go. He smelled like outside and fire.

"I'll take you home as long as you show me the way. . . By the way, what is your name?"

I pointed a way and we started off. "Oh. . . I'm Lexi, and I already know that your Dustfinger and he's Farid." I blushed when I called him 'Dustfinger', even though that's his name. I still couldn't believe that I, Lexi, was on Dustfinger's back. But, how did they get here?

"How did you. . . Wait, you read our books, didn't you?" I was shocked. How did he know that they're from books? I looked down and blushed a little.

"Maybe. . ." I Whispered. 'How am I supposed to tell him that I read the books without it sounding creepy?' I thought.

"So. . . If you did read them - I'm taking it that you did-. . . Who's your favorite Character?" Dustfinger ask, turning down a road. I was getting more and more shy and embarrassed with every word he said. I've never felt this way before. This was a very new feeling for me. I really didn't want to tell him who it was. Even worst that it was him! "Well. . . Uh, I. . . Um." I stuttered. 'How am I supposed to tell him that I've got a crush on him?! A big one at that?! I can't tell him. . . I'm too scared!'

"Dustfinger. . . I think your her favorite. Her face is turning as red as a Tomato!" Farid told him, Happily. I shot him a glare and tried to hid my face as Dustfinger tried to see if I was really that red. After awhile, he gave up, but wouldn't stop Smirking.

"Is it true? Am I your favorite character? I've never had someone too shy to tell me that." I could feel his back shake as he chuckled.

"Hey! Don't laugh at me! What did I do to make you laugh?!" I shouted at him. But when I saw where we were, I got sad. We were at the corner and I could see Mawmaws, That's what i call my Great-grandma, and I didn't want them to see him or Farid because I might get in big trouble. I gripped his shoulders tightly, which made him stop walking.

"What's wrong, now?"

"You can put me down now. . . My grandma's house is just over there." I told them, pointing to the pink house. He set me down gently on my feet, I just flinched a little bit from the pain.

"Are you sure? We could walk you to the driveway, at least."

I shook my head. "No. . . My mom wouldn't be the happiest if she saw me with a boy and a man that just showed up out of nowhere. So, it'd be better if you didn't." I didn't want to leave them, it was my dream to meet Dustfinger, but now I gotta leave them.

"Would she be less mad if she saw just me walking with you?" Farid ask. I looked at him and thought, 'Well. . . I think it would be better for them to see me with a boy around my age in stead of with Dustfinger.'

"Okay, then come on, Farid. . . If you want, you can walk with me to at least the driveway. But no further, got it?" He nodded.  
>"Can I Dustfinger?"<p>

"I guess. . .I'll wait here and don't take forever." Dustfinger said. When he said that, it reminded me of how a parent would tell a boy to treasure the time you have with your love. I felt weird. I wasn't in love with Farid! I'm in love with Dustfinger!

I took one step and almost fell, I would have if it was for Farid and Dustfinger who caught me. "I think it would be better if you rode on Farid's back." Dustfinger suggested. He helped me on Farid's back and Farid started to walk to Mawmaws.

"I'm sorry. . . Am I heavy?" I ask, shyly.

"No, not really. . . You didn't ask Dustfinger that when he was carrying you, though." I just smiled.

I didn't want to tell him it was because he was smaller and younger then his mentor. Instead, I replied "Well. . . I'm just a little shy sometimes, that's all."

"Is that right?"

"Yep. . . you can put me down, now." But he didn't quite do just that. He kept on walking, until he got to the porch. He set me down on one of the chairs, gently as though I was a glass doll.

"Do you really like Dustfinger? He has a wife and a kid, you know that, right?" I gasped and looked at him, surprised he would ever ask me that. I looked down the road at Dustfinger, he was leaning against the stop sign on the corner.

"Yeah, I know. . . But, I still like him, how long have you two been here?" I felt a furry head on my hand, so I looked down to see Gwin. It looked like he wanted me to pet him.

"About two or three months in this city, but we've been in this world for at least six months." Farid told me. I petted Gwin on the head. I felt sorry for them, but then I remembered that Dustfinger has been out of his world ten years before, so this was nothing for him, yet.

"Hey, Farid. . . ? If I tell you when and where, could you make sure that you and Dustfinger are there?" We both looked back at the fire-breather by the stop sign. He looked like he was really starting to get bored.

"Sure. . . But what if he doesn't want to?"

I sighed. "Trick him somehow. Meet me at the baseball Diamond next Sunday at one o'clock in the afternoon." I told him.

He looked at me like I was a nutcase. "What's a baseball Diamond?"

"Ask Dustfinger, he better know, but if he doesn't then you go straight down this road-" -I pointed down the road to my right- "- When you get to the end, you turn to the left which will lead you to a field and you can wait for me there, okay?"

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it again. He then nodded. "Bye, Lexi!" He said, walking out to the road. "Come on, Gwin!"

His head popped up, looked around and laid his head back down on my lap.

I stood up and put the little Marten in the grass. "Go back to Farid and Dustfinger, Gwin!" I told him. He looked up at me, sniffed the air and ran over to Farid. I waved to them as they walked away.


	5. Next Sunday PART 1

The rest of the week pasted very slowly. I couldn't help, but think about them. When Sunday morning came, I woke up wide awake. I couldn't wait until one because I wanted to see them, again, so badly. As soon as I was done eating, I ask how long I could be gone, got on my bike and rode off to the baseball diamond. Today was a lot hotter then last Sunday, so I was wearing a T-shirt and a pair of shorts and flip-flops. I shouldn't have been going so fast, even though I was so excited, because when I was almost there, I whipped-out. I had my backpack on, which had a scarf in it that I sometimes used in my hair. I took it out and wrapped it around my wounded knee. After I knew it was nice and tight, I got back on my bike and rode as fast as I could. When I got to the field, I saw them, just talking. When they saw me, you could tell by the looks on their faces.

'What? Is it what I'm wearing?' I thought. "What's wrong? Is there something on my face?" They still didn't move.

Gwin came running over to me and climbed up to my shoulder.

He licked my cheek like a little puppy. "Well, hello to you, too, Gwin!" I laughed.

Dustfinger was the first to snap out of it. "What are you wearing and what happened to your knee?" He ask, walking to me.

'Wow. . . Why didn't he ask how i knew they were going to be here?' I ask myself in my mind. He stopped a few inches away from me.

"I'm wearing clothes and I was going to fast on my bike and fell and skinned my knee. . . Why didn't you say anything when you just saw me a few minutes ago?" Farid snapped out of his little trance and came walking over to us. 'Why did it last longer with him? He better not be falling for me! He's supposed to love Meggie! Not me!' I yelled in my head.

"Why can I see your legs so much? If you were my daughter, then i wouldn't let you show off that much skin!" Dustfinger pointed out. I started frowning. I looked like I was going to cry.

"What's wrong, Lexi? Why do you look so sad?" Farid ask.

I glanced up high enough to see only Farid's face. I didn't look at Dustfinger since he's so tall. "I. . . I don't have a dad. . ." I whispered. They both gasped. "I live with my mom, aunt, uncle, grandma and little brother. I don't remember meeting my dad ever. There's only one thing I know for sure about him and that's. . . That's if I ever meet him, I'll kill him." They looked at each other and back at me.

I sat down on the grass, more like fell back and looked up at the pretty blue sky.

"Why. . . Would you do that?" I heard Farid ask.

"Because. . . I don't wanna say. All the girl's in my family have bad luck with dudes." I told them. Dustfinger appeared on my left and Farid on my right. So, I reached up, grabbed their hands and pulled them down to lay next to me. "Lay down next to me and look at the sky!" I yelled at them.

No one said anything for at least five to seven minutes. The first words to be said were, "So. . . Who read you here and which book did you two come out of?" I ask. They didn't say a word, Dustfinger just sat up.

"Farid. . . Where's my bag?"

"Back. . . Where you are staying." Farid said. Dustfinger then sighed.

"Well, go get it!" Farid got up, grabbed Gwin and ran off.

I started blushing because I'm now all alone with my crush. 'Oh, my god. . . I'm alone with him! It's just the two of us!' My thoughts were going crazy. I wish I could kiss him, but just like Melissa said, it's against the law.

"Lexi. . . ?" Dustfinger ask. It snapped me out of my train of thought.

"Yes? Wh-. . . What's up?"

"How many of the books are there? How many have you read? Am I in all of them?"

I tried to see his face, but he wouldn't let me. "There's a total of three books in all. . . I'm only on INKSPELL, which is the second book. And. . . I don't think I should tell you. I will tell you two thing's though. . . You are in the first book. And you do die. . ." I looked down at my hands, which are on my lap. The next thing I knew, his hands were on my shoulders, his face only inches away from mine and he was shaking me. I could tell he was shaking himself.

"I need to know! When? How? Am I a coward when I die?" I smiled, but my shoulders felt hot. I looked down to see that his hands, that were still on my shoulders, were on fire.

"D-. . . Dustfinger! Fire! Your hands are on fire!" I screamed. He pulled his hands away as fast as he could. He put out the fire, but when he did, I jerked away.

Where his hands were laying on the shoulders of my shirt, you could now see my skin, which was now a little blackened with soot and a lot of red from the heat. I had tears in my eyes. I tried holding them back, but it didn't work. They ran down my cheeks like rain drops rolling down the glass of a window.

"Lexi. . . I-"

"Stay away from me! That hurt!" I shouted at him.

When Farid came back, I still had tear drops running down my cheeks and Dustfinger was looking at his hands, making the fire come and go. "What happened? Why is Lexi crying and why are you doing that?"

I just glanced at Dustfinger with sad eyes, then looked back down at my hands on my lap. "I burnt her shoulders by accident." Dustfinger whispered.

Farid came over and lightly touched my shoulders. I flinched away. "Ouch!" I whispered to Farid. After he looked at the burnt skin, he ripped my T-shirt off. I gasped, but then made a sound that you make when your surprised. "What are you doing?!" I ask him, my cheeks almost as hot as my shoulders. He was really lucky I was wearing a tank-top under that T-shirt. This morning, I almost didn't.

"I'm looking at your shoulders, they don't look to bad. I've burnt myself worst before."

"Are you from two or three?" He looked at me, shocked.

He got closer to me, so he could whisper in my ear and Dustfinger couldn't hear. "I was brought out after Dustfinger died to bring me back to life, when I died instead of him. . . He was brought out right before Orpheus read him back in the book he came from." Farid whispered in my ear, making sure Dustfinger doesn't hear him. I could see the fire-breather watching us as Farid got in the backpack and grabbed the ointment and put it gently on my burns. The ointment cold on the burns, which made it feel better. You could tell it felt good by the sound I was making. When he was done rubbing it on, I fell back on the grass.


	6. Next Sunday PART 2

I fell back on the grass. "Thanks, Farid. . . That felt so good!" I said, but then I thought about something. I looked at my watch, I've been gone for nineteen minutes. "Oh, shoot! I need to go! I'll be right back. I have to go back and check in. I have to. Don't go any-. . . Shoot! What am I supposed to do about my shoulders?"  
>I looked at Dustfinger. I, then, whispered something in Farid's ear. He nodded, walked over to Dustfinger and held out his hand. "Give me your coat. I need it." Farid told him. Dustfinger looked like he was going to ask why, but decided on not to. He stood up, took it off and gave it to the boy. Farid walked over to me and handed it over. I stood and put it on. And, of course, it was kinda big on me. I started smiling like a child who just got a puppy, but I was now wearing my crushes coat. Any girl would be happy about a little thing like that.<p>

"Now you know that I have to come back!" I beamed at them. As I walked to my bike, Farid kept asking me if he could come with me, but I kept saying no. Until, I got tired of him asking. He rode on the back of it. I didn't make it fall, but we came close to it more then once.

He had fun and so did I. The only bad thing was that everyone was outside, the good thing was that they were all out back. As I pulled into the driveway, I almost ran into our van. Oops! I left the bike around front, hoping no one would see Farid. I ran around back and they were sitting in the shade. "I'm back!" I yelled at them. I, then, went in through the back door, which leads to the kitchen, which is where my drink was. I grabbed it and went through the front door and when I looked at my bike, which was where Farid was supposed to be, but I looked and didn't see him, anywhere. So, I ran around back, again, and there he was. Talking to everyone.  
>"Farid!" I yelled at him. Outside was my little brother, my grandma (Who I call Nana), my great-grandma (Who I call Mawmaw) and my aunt (Who I call Bapo). And he was talking to them all.<p>

"Hi, Lexi. . . Your family is really nice!"

"Okay, well. . . I'm going on another bike ride, so how long?" I ask them, waiting for someone to hurry up and answer.

"I'll give you an hour this time." Nana said. When I was in the house, I had grabbed my jacket. I ran over to grab Farid's hand, lead him around front and got on my bike. I had put my cup in my cup-holder. "Hey, Lexi. . . Can we go another way back? If there is one." He ask me.

I was only at the end of the drive way. "Long or short way?" I ask.

He sat there, thinking.

"The long way!" He was beaming, I could feel it. I couldn't help but smile, too. I went left, but instead of going all the way, I took a right, when I got to another road, I turned right and then a left, until I got to the last turn and I went left and went on. Right now, it was so quiet. Neither of us said a word. When I got to the baseball Diamond, I went through the sand and through the grass to Dustfinger.

He was just sitting there in the grass with his legs out in front of him and most likely being bit up by bugs. I tried stopping, but it wouldn't stop. When it did, though, I went flying over the handle bars and ended up landing on Dustfinger. My knee was hurting, so I didn't want to get off of him. That and I loved the way he smelled.

"Lexi. . . Are you alright?!" Farid ask. My face turned red, as red as a tomato as Farid calls it. I looked up at Dustfinger, reaching up and touching his scared face. He just looked at me.

"Why are you touching ? I thought you were scared or hated me."

'No, Lexi. . . You can't! You can't do it! You might get in trouble or he might not love you the same way!' A little voice said in my head. It had the same voice as Zero Kiryuu. I, however, disobeyed this voice. I reached up, put my hands on either side of his face and gently set my lips on his in a kiss.

It, at least, lasted a minute or a half. When I pulled away, both, Farid and Dustfinger, were gasping. I felt really shy and embarrassed about it. I'm happy I did it, but I'm also scared of what he thought. I got off him right away and just sat there next to him, staring down at my fingers in my lap.

'I told you not to do it. . . Now, if he hates you, it's your own fault.' Said that same voice. I finally decided to glance up at him, but when I did, I wish I hadn't. The look on his face made me think that he thought I was crazy. It made me want to cry. And I did. I got up, not bothering with my bike, and started running. I ran towards mine and my little cousins secret place. I've never wanted to get away so badly and I've never ran for so long.

I heard Farid and Dustfinger calling my name, but I didn't care, I just wanted away. Away from the baseball Diamond. Away from my family. Away from Dustfinger and Farid. And just away from the whole world. When I got to the grass and rocks is when I started falling and tripping. They weren't far behind me and I knew it.

I ran through the tall grass, until I got to the deer stand. I climbed up the ladder as fast as I could and I did a great job, too, since I was up there before Dustfinger of Farid got there.

"Lexi! Come down here! Let's talk!" Dustfinger yelled up at me. I was shocked that he wasn't coming up. Instead, he sent Farid up. I was still crying.

I realized, when Farid came up, that I forgot my backpack at the baseball Diamond. Good thing Farid brought it. "Lexi. . . What's wrong? Why are you crying up here?" Down below, I heard Dustfinger sigh.

That irritated me even more. "Why do you think! It's because of him!" I yelled, pointing down. I scooted over, so he could sit next to me. After he sat, I hugged him and buried my face in his chest. He smoothed my hair after hesitating. Farid smelled like fire, Gwin, outside and something sweet. "I'm stupid. . . I'm an idiot and when I fulfilled my wish, my heart brakes! And I was even more stupid to give my first kiss to Dustfinger! I can never take that back. there's even a chance that if anyone else finds out that, he could go to jail." I whispered into him.

He pulled away from me. "He'll go to jail? Why?"

I blushed and nodded.

"B-. . . Because he's a lot older then me and that's bad in this world to be with someone much older then you." I told him. He got up, sat down on the edge and looked down at Dustfinger.

"What does she mean by 'You can't be with someone much older then you'?" Farid yelled down at Dustfinger.

"Hey. . . Don't tell him anything without me knowing what your telling him first! Got it?!"


	7. Lexi's Back Story

Lexi. Her full name is Lexi Sanada. At the beginning of the story, she's fifteen. She loves singing, writing, reading, riding her bike, going for walks around her great-grandmas neighborhood and listening to any kind of music. She has light brown hair and blue-gray eyes. She watches anime and reads manga. Some people may call the kind of person like her a nerd or a geek. She does not wear glasses or have curly hair. The family members she grew up with was her mom, little brother who's two years younger then her, her grandma who she calls 'Nana', her aunt who she calls 'Bapo', her uncle who she calls 'De', her great-grandma who she calls 'Mawmaw', her great aunt and at least fourteen of her cousins. No one her age. Only one of them is younger then her by a few months, but she doesn't see him much. All her life she's wished to have the power to somehow call people out of her favorite books, shows, movies or anything like that. . . And finally, she can meet three of her favorite guy's from Inkheart. Dustfinger, Farid and Gwin. What she thought would be her first walk of the nice June Sunday turned into the day of her dreams. 


	8. But What about the kiss?

I smiled. "Farid? Can we switch places?"

He nodded. We both got up and started switching, but when I was where he was, only standing, I lost my balance. I fell backwards. The next thing I knew, I was in Dustfinger's arms.

"Well. . . I hope this won't happen all the time." He was looking down at me while I looked up, but the next thing I knew, Gwin was on his shoulder, looking at me with his black little beady eyes.

I smiled big at Gwin.

"Hi, there, Gwin! I haven't seen you since I first saw you guys today." I told him. Gwin climbed down and sat on my shoulder, until I jerked away because of my burnt shoulders.

"Would you let me see them? Your burns, I mean." He set me down on my feet, while Farid climbed down. Dustfinger looked at my burns. They weren't black anymore, just really, really red. I thought of something and my face lit up.

"Hey! Since they're burnt, does that mean my shoulders will peal?!" I ask, happily. Farid cocked his head to the side and Dustfinger sighed.

"What do you mean by 'peal'?"

I giggled. "Have you ever been sun burnt?" He nodded. "Well, you know how when its almost gone and your skin peals? Well, I hope that happens to my shoulders!" I told him, smiling really big.

* * *

><p>Time has pasted since then and now Summers almost over. Every Sunday I saw them and sometimes, I would see them during the week. My Birthday past and it was the best! I hated it when we went on vacation. Good thing it was short! We were only gone for a week. As soon as we got back, I rode off to see them.<p>

While I was gone, I got each of them a little something. For Farid, I chose some candy. For Gwin, I chose an animal toy and for Dustfinger, it was a little harder because I could never think of what he would like. But I finally chose a little stuffed Teddy-bear. When I gave him it to him, he had looked at me like I was nuts for giving him a stuffed bear, but then I told him why.

"When I was looking, I saw this little black Teddy-bear and thought you would like it since it could remind you of your old friend 'The Black Prince' since he has a black bear that follows him everywhere!" I had smiled at him. After I had told him why I gave it to him, he took it. They had showed me where they were staying (Which is where they sleep every night) and when I came without them knowing, I would just go there. When I could, I would bring them something. Even if it was just food or clothes, like shirts and stuff.

* * *

><p>"Dustfinger! Farid! Wait for me!" I yelled. They were fast on foot, I was riding my bike. I've always been faster on bike then on foot. They looked back at me and slowed down. It was getting cooler outside, so I had to start wearing warmer clothes. And it was right when they were getting used to me wearing tank-tops, shorts and flip-flops. Once a month, there's a thing where you can get free clothes. When I went, I would get Dustfinger and Farid things to wear.<p>

"Hey, Lexi! Can I ride your bike, please?" Ask Farid. I had shown him how to ride and he's a fast learner. I got off and let him ride it while I rode on Dustfinger's back. "Look! Look, Dustfinger! I can ride Lexi's bike!" Dustfinger just nodded. He hasn't been talking all that much, since I kissed him.

Yep! That has not left my head yet! I don't know if he still thinks about it sometimes, but I do and I'll never forget my first kiss being with someone from the Inkheart movie and books.

"Hey! Are you listening to me, at all?" It was Dustfinger.

"Oh, sorry. . . I was daydreaming. What's up?"

"Why would you have a crush on a coward like me?"

I gasped. It's like he was reading my mind! "Wh-. . . Where did that come from?" I ask him, I didn't know if I wanted to know or not, though.

"Well. . . I ask you first!" He whispered, like he didn't want anyone else to hear. My face started feeling hotter and hotter with every second that pasted.

"Well, I don't know. . . Maybe it's because your nice, you think your a coward and not everyone gets why you do some of the thing's you do. All you want is to go home to your family and friends and you'll do whatever it takes to do it." I didn't know what he was going to say. But when he did talk,it made my heart skip a lot more then one beat, and it wasn't a good skip, either.

"That sounds like something Resa or Roxane would say." When he said that, he actually smiled and it was a really happy one. I didn't like him comparing me to other girls, if anything, I hated it.

"Why did you just do that?" I ask him, holding back the tears that were in my eyes.

"Why did I do what What did I do wrong?" He ask me, questioningly.

I don't know, but he just kept hitting the right spot to make me more and more mad. I think I would feel better if I yelled at him, so I did. "Girls hate it when dudes like you compare us to other girls! Like how you compare me to Resa and Roxane! I hate it! I know you love them and you don't love me the same way! Why don't you understand?!" I yelled. After I yelling, all you could hear were the birds. "Why do you always have to make me cry?" I could barely hear what I, myself, had just whispered. So, I don't know if he heard or not. I regretted ever saying all that after they left my lips. I slid down his back, until my feet hit the ground. This was one of those times when all I wanted to do was leave, go back to Mawmaws, lay down on her bed and go to sleep to forget all about them, but I couldn't, I didn't want to take my bike away from Farid.

"Farid. . . I'm taking Dustfinger to the deer stand, alright?" He looked at me with a smile and nodded. I grabbed Dustfinger's hand and started dragging him away. When we got to the deer, I climbed up, but he didn't. Ever since I kissed him and climbed up here, he knows that me being up there, not to mess with me.

He always let Farid do it. I stood there, looking out over the field. "If my mom found out I was coming out here, I wouldn't be able to ride my bike anymore. . . That's what she told me last year. Come up here, Dustfinger." I told him.

"Sorry to tell you, but. . . I'm not a big fan of high places. But I guess I could come up for now. But not again." Dustfinger said while climbing up the ladder. I let him sit on the seat, but he had me sit on his lap. And it turns out. . . It was a very windy day today. So, the tree that the deer stand was in started swaying, back and forth.  
>I always hated it when it did that. Sometimes when I climbed up here and it did that, Dustfinger had sent Farid up to get me, but Farid was riding my bike and it was only me and Dustfinger, so he had to calm me down somehow because I was really scared I thought it was going to fall and I was going to get hurt, or worst, die.<p>

"Lexi! Your okay, stop screaming! Calm down!" He whispered to me, in my ear.

"No. . . I'm scared! Make it stop shaking, Dustfinger!" I wiggled. I was crying. I, then, wrapped my arms around his neck, hiding my face in the nape of his neck, Smelling the smell of outside and fire once, again. He just shushed me and smoothed my hair.

I sobbed and sobbed, but calming down slowly. "Stop crying. . . You won't get hurt or die for as long as I'm here. I'm not going anywhere." Even though I was still crying, I started smiling and giggling.

"That's just so cheesy! And. . . Would you promise?" I giggled. I had pulled away from him and was smiling up at him. He smiled back down at me.  
>"It'll take awhile to get, so I guess I can promise you that, for now." He told me.<p> 


	9. UPDATE!

Hey! I just want to let everyone know that I will NOT be naming Chapters anymore! It's too hard for me! so I'll just start saying what number it is!


	10. The Silver What?

(Still with Dustfinger up in the deer stand. No skipping!)

* * *

><p>I felt happy, again. I hope he'll stay forever. But I know that somehow, he'll go back and I'll both love and hate that very day. I'll love it because he'll be happy back home, but I'll also hate it because it will most likely be the last time I see him.<p>

"Lexi! Dustfinger! Where are you?!" Yelled a voice.

I jumped.

Farid just had to go and brake this wonderful moment! "Up here, Farid! We're up here!" Dustfinger yelled, after shaking his head and running his fingers through his tangled hair.

I sighed. If Farid hadn't said anything, I was going to try kissing him, again. And he might have kissed back because of the mood, too! I stood up, off of his lap, and stared down at Farid.

"Hey, Lexi. . ." He trailed off as he looked up at me. "Why are your eyes red? And where's Dustfinger?"

"Well, he's -" I stopped right away when my foot slipped and I fell. It was because of the wind. I was in shock.

Too scared to do anything. All I could do was close my eyes.

"Lexi!" I heard someone yell. I didn't know who it was and I don't think I ever will. But, I never hit the hard ground. Someone caught me and when I opened my eyes, I stared right up at Farid's dark eyes.

"Hey! Lexi! Are you alright?!" I heard Dustfinger kept asking.

"Are you alright?" Farid ask. I just nodded. "She's fine!"

I was still in shock. I leaned my head against Farid's shoulder, breathing hard from the fear that just happened. My mind was blank. Nothing happening in it what so ever. Farid knelt down and set me on the ground. Dustfinger knelt down by me, opposite of Farid. He pushed my hair out of my face, so he could make sure that I was not hurt.

"Lexi. . . Say something if you can. So, can you?" I looked up at him, not able to speak a word. Gwin climbed onto my chest and started licking my cheek. I didn't feel like hugging Dustfinger. So, instead, I leaned over and hugged Farid, gripping him. He hugged me back.

"I don't wanna be here anymore. . ." I whispered it so low that only Farid could hear it and that's how I wanted it.

"She said that she doesn't want to be here anymore. . . So, let's take her to the baseball Diamond." Farid gave me to the fire-breather and grabbed my bike. He wasn't going to leave that! They walked on, no talking, even though I didn't want it to be like this, but I didn't want to be the first one to speak. And Dustfinger was when we got to the field.

I was looking all over for something, but I couldn't find it.

"What are you looking for?"

"My paper! The whole reason that I came to see you two! I don't know where it is!" I said, worried about it.

_I needed it!_

'Why do you need that paper so badly? Why not just say it to them?'

_I can't! I need it!_

"Who would you rather stay with you? Me or Farid?"

I didn't have to think about that. While looking down, I reached up and grabbed Dustfinger's sleeve. Farid started walking away, looking sad. Did he really have a crush on me or something?

"You do know he likes you, right?" Dustfinger ask when we couldn't see him any longer.

I looked up at him.

"He does? But. . . Then why hasn't he said or done anything to me about it?"

"Because, he sends hints and he knows you love me instead of him. . . When your not around, your all he talks about. Day and night. When he can't see or talk to you, he just talks _about _you."

I was shocked. He's supposed to love Meggie! Not me!

"But. . . That can't be. He's not supposed to love me. He's supposed to be in love with Meggie! What changed about that?" All Dustfinger did was shrugged.

I'm going to have to have a talk with Farid sometime, alone. I stood up and walked back and forth and back, again. But, I stopped when I started feeling light-headed and my vision was being blocked by little black spots. Oh, no. Not, again. I knew this feeling, I was going to pass-out. And, Before I could do anything, I was out.

When I opened my eyes, I was laying down and looking straight up at a face with three scars.

"Why did you just pass-out?!" He yelled at me.

I sat up like nothing happened and looked at him. "Do you have anything to drink?" I ask. He handed me a bottle of water. I frowned at it, but took it anyways.

"So, why did you pass-out and then act like nothing happened?"

"Because, it's happened before, last year and the year before and a few years before that. . . I just know that means that I need to drink more. It just means I'm dehydrated." I told him, "Wait. . . Did you drink some of this?" He nodded. I blushed. In a way, Dustfinger's kissing me!

"Fine, then. . . When I think you need a drink, I'll make you drink, and if you don't want to then me or Farid will hold you down while the other makes the water go in your mouth!" He scowled me.

I think it was just because he didn't want me to pass-out, again. But, before we could say anything else, Farid came walking back over to us, looking at the piece of paper.

'No! He shouldn't be reading that! Wait, where did he learn how to read?' I thought, shocked.

"Lexi. . . What do you mean by you think you can red thing's out of books?" Farid looked puzzled. I got a funny little smile, the kind of smile you use when someone already found out a secret that you were going to tell them. Dustfinger looked at me.

"You can? Since when?"

"Since five days ago. . . When I read out this necklace from 'The mortal instruments' book." I told them, pulling out a red necklace out of my shirt, it was around my neck.

"So. . . You could read us back! Why didn't you tell me when we were talking about about me going home today?" Dustfinger ask. I took the paper away from Farid and started reading it to them.

" 'Dustfinger and Farid. . . I learned that I could read thing's out of books. And the best thing is that I can do it without something going in. I don't know when I'll let you know, but that's only because I don't want you two to leave me. Your the only two who understand me like this and who would want the one they had they're first kiss with to leave them? The time we've spent together was the most fun. My sixteenth birthday was the best one I've ever had. I'm happy that Gwin bit me when he did. So, I hope you understand that it may take awhile still for you guys to get home if you want me to send you'." I read my letter to them.

Gwin walked over to me and laid down, wanting me to pet him. Dustfinger took the paper from me so he could see if I was telling the truth. When he finished reading it, he balled it up, threw it on the ground and sighed, looking down at me when he stood. I was still sitting on the grass, looking sadly at them. The same way I looked up at them when we first met and I thought they were going to leave me after Gwin bit me. I felt the same way I felt then. Sad and useless.

"But, you will have to learn how. . . Can you read Silvertongue out so he can teach you?" I looked up at him. Really?

"Would Mo really be alright with sleeping outside with you guys?" I ask him and he sighed, again. Dustfinger sighs a lot! Farid hasn't said anything since he cam back with the paper.

I was starting to really be worried about him. So, I looked over at where he was standing to see. . . What the?!

"Uh, Dustfinger. . . Farid is kinda. . . Gone." I told him, lowly.

He looked over to see that Farid wasn't where he had been standing a few minuets ago. "That stupid boy! Doesn't he know not to go running off in another world that he doesn't know much about? Would you be up to looking for him?"

I nodded.


	11. Chapter 7

"You look over in the park and I'll look over here. I'm not supposed to cross that road by myself, anyways. . . Come back here in an hour?" We nodded and started looking. Dustfinger took Gwin with him and I went alone. The first place I thought of to check was the Deer stand. And there he was. "Farid? You do know that Dustfinger is mad at you, right?" I ask, climbing up the ladder to get up there and I could already tell it was still windy.

He looked like he was about to cry, but I scared him when I stood in front of him, leaned down and hugged him.

"Why do you love me? Are you upset that both girls you love have 'That' power?"

He had buried his face in my hair, wrapped his arms around me and nodded. "But, why do you care? You love Dustfinger and you think of me as a friend, nothing more and nothing less. . . You would rather me never have come and you could be alone with Dustfinger." I pulled away, stood up straight in front of him and smacked him.

And it wasn't no light smack, it was a pretty hard one.

"You are a stupid boy. An idiot. A Baka. . . If I wanted to be alone with him, wouldn't I be with him instead of here with you? I wouldn't have bought you anything while I was gone, I wouldn't have teached you how to ride a bike, let alone mine, I wouldn't have let you walk to the driveway with me when we first met, and I really wouldn't have hugged you just now!" I scowled him.

The whole time, he looked shocked.

'What? Do girl's not talk back where he comes from?' I thought. I smiled. I felt happy to be his first! Wait, Meggie talks back to him so, why is he so shocked?

"Why did you just smack me?"

I was wondering why he ask that, until I remembered. When he was in his own book, the other thieves had beat him a lot, even when he didn't do anything wrong.

"I did it to make you shut up about what you were saying, and. . . I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have chosen to smack you. I just forgot and now you remember being back in your own book and-" I think I was talking too much because Farid crashed his lips upon mine.

It was weird because I remember him kissing Meggie and what if because of this kiss, he won't go back to his book Inkheart and Meggie never see's him, again? All of this ran through my head while he kissed me. Me kissing Dustfinger is not the same because I don't like him being with Roxane, she's too prefect for him. He shouldn't even have a wife or kids. Maybe its the thought of him doing 'It' with another person.

I snapped back in when Farid pulled away. "Wow. . . You let me kiss you. I didn't think you would let me."  
>I didn't want to tell him that I was daydreaming about Dustfinger. That would really upset him. I started to feel my cheeks heat up all the same.<p>

"Y-. . . You j-just kissed m-me!" He looked happy with himself. It was the first time someone had kissed me. Great! I think about his lips on mine after it happens! It was so embarrassing! I had to. . .

I couldn't hold it back any longer. So, I bent down and laid my lips upon his. He kissed me back, it got very uncomfortable standing, so I ended up sitting on his lap. But soon enough, I stopped got off his lap and started climbing down the ladder.

"Where are you going? Did I do something wrong? Did I hurt you somehow?" Farid ask, worried. I smiled at him.

"No. . . I'm supposed to take you back to the field. And no telling anyone about this. . . Got it?" He nodded, after smiling back at me with that big, cute smile. We got back to the baseball Diamond and when we did, Dustfinger was waiting for us.

When he saw Farid, he looked really mad. "Farid! What were you thinking going off like that without me knowing?! In this world you could have gotten kidnapped or shot! Your so stupid!" Dustfinger yelled. I don't know if Farid saw it, but behind all that anger, he was happy that Farid was safe and sound now. I couldn't help but smile and giggle a little as Dustfinger yelled at Farid. After an hour, I started getting more and more tired.

I yawned.

"Someones tired!" Farid said in a sing-song voice. I smiled. My eyelids were getting heavier and heavier, until I couldn't hold them open any longer.

"Yes. . . And I can't stay awake any longer!" We were still in the grass by the baseball Diamond. I laid my head on Farid's lap, instead of Dustfinger's, who thought it was kind of weird.

"Should we take her home?"

"No! I haven't stayed the night with you two yet. . . So, please let me!" I cried. My eyes closed, but I could still hear Dustfinger sigh.

"Fine. . . But you'll have to get up so Farid can go tell them. . . I can't since they would think its weird, but its alright for a boy, your age, to come and tell them that you'll be staying the night with him. No, that's not weird at all." I smiled. I know what he was getting after. Again about if I was his kid, he wouldn't let me do that.

So, I sat up and waited for Farid to leave before I laid my head on Dustfinger's lap.

"I was waiting for the real you. . . And here she is." He smirked. I laid on my back and looked up at him.

"I'm glad you like this me better because this is surely the real me."

"Then, why did you lay down on Farid's lap instead of mine? I thought you loved me." I sat up like a robot, turned to look at him and pressed my lips on his.

When I pulled away, he had the same face as when I first kissed him. It made me mad. "Why do you do that even though you know that I love Roxane and we have two girls?" He ask.

I sighed as loud as I could. "Well, you've only got one girl now and I dislike Roxane! She's too prefect! She's too pretty and too nice! I hate that! No ones that prefect! It's stupid!" I yelled, "She's not good enough for you. . ." I started crying. If he still loves her, what should I do? I just sat there for a few minuets, looking down at my fingers in my lap or looking up at the sky.

After at least ten to eleven minuets, I heard Farid coming back and as soon as I saw him, I jumped at him which almost made him fall. What am I saying? He did fall, I landed on top of him and we both started laughing.

We got up and started walking to where they stayed, which, of course, was outside. We ate a little something and went to bed. any other night, I would have slept next to Dustfinger to keep warm, but since I'm mad at him right now, I slept next to Farid tonight.

They had lit a fire to keep us a little warmer, but Farid has a high body temperature. Mine is very low.


	12. Chapter 8

In the morning, by the time I woke up, Farid was still asleep, but Dustfinger was awake. I turned over on my other side to face him, he was playing with fire in his hands. I didn't do anything else, but just stared at him, until Farid woke up. I heard him turn over.

I looked over my shoulder at him, his eyes were open, he was smiling at me and I smiled back.

"Good morning." He whispered to me. I turned over to face him and when I did, he put his arm around me.

"Good morning!" I whispered back.

"Where's Dustfinger?"

I got up and pointed toward a bush. "Over there. He doesn't look happy." I frowned. Even though I'm mad at Dustfinger, I think I might still have feelings for him.

Farid got up, told me to stay where I was and went to go check. I was happy too. I might love Dustfinger, but not enough to see him peeing. I still smiled at the thought of if Farid hadn't thought about that, I came with him and Dustfinger freaked out because I saw him peeing. Who wouldn't laugh or smile at the thought of his face, then?  
>"Lexi! Come here!" Farid yelled from behind the bushes. I ran over to them, Dustfinger was just standing there, him and Farid looking at me.<p>

"Hey. . . What's up? Did I do something wrong?" The reason I ask that is because of the way they were looking at me. As I looked closer, Dustfinger had tears in his eyes that he was trying to hold back.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I had my back pack with me, in it was Inkspell and Dustfinger had it in his hands. He had it on the page where Farid dies, Then he flipped a few more pages to where Roxane finds Dustfinger dead to the now living Farid. "Why didn't you tell me that I die because Basta kills Farid? I die to bring him back!"

"Lexi. . . He found out." Farid pointed out. I would have yelled at him for saying something like that when I already knew, but now was so not the time.

'When did he get that? I was watching him the whole time and he never once got in my backpack or I would have stopped him!' I thought, walking over to Farid and lifted the back of his shirt to show Dustfinger the scar.

"He got stabbed by Basta right here. . . You felt so sad, so you told Meggie to go tell Roxane that you were going to be gone and that you would always remember the promise. You also told Meggie to ask Roxane to tell her 'That story'." I told Dustfinger. I cried through that whole part. And remembering it now made me almost start crying, again.

The only way I wasn't was that I was holding them back, willing them not to fall no matter what.

I cried from the moment Farid died to the end of the book, because once I read Farid's death, I knew what was coming, but when Roxane walked in to see Dustfinger laying there dead and Farid moving, I couldn't take it any longer and I kind of threw the book across the room and lost my place. But, of course, I knew what happens and I so badly wanted to tell them, but I didn't think I should.

"Stop looking at me like that! Your going to make me wanna tell you even more!" I realized what I said after it came out of my mouth, and when I did, I covered it right away.

They looked at me. "What do you know?"

"Well. . . Farid's out of the book right after you die. . . And I know thing's from after that and I'm not telling you two any of it!" I held my hands up in protest, shaking my head. Dustfinger walked over tome, put his hands on my shoulders and started shaking me gently.

"Please, Lexi. . . Please tell me what happens. . . I died, so you have to tell me because I know you feel sorry for us. So, please tell me, Lexi!"

'Wow. . . I've never seen, let alone heard, Dustfinger plead like this before.' I thought. I didn't want to, but I couldn't help it since they were looking at me with such pleading eyes.

I sighed.

"Fine. . . Even though Dustfinger dies while bringing Farid back to life, I don't know when, but Mo goes to make a deal with death and, I can't remember all of it, Mo ends up coming back with Dustfinger and when you do come back, all of your scars are gone." I told them. They just stared, shocked at what all I just told them. It made me giggle. They're faces looked so funny.

"Lexi. . . Is that true?" They both ask in unison. I nodded.

"Yep. . . Not even Farid knows that. . . but wait, if both of you are here, then none of that would happen." I whispered that last part to only I could hear. We went on with our day, forgetting about all the bad stuff.

**Hi! Now I know this was short but I got to a time skip!**


	13. Chapter 9

Awhile pasted. I let them meet my best friend/cousin and my little cousins. I was now able to read thing's that I read out back in, but I needed to see if I could do it with living people. I started to get closer and closer with Farid, but further and further away from Dustfinger. Sometimes we would get in fights. One of them was really bad.

We fought about how he doesn't love me the same way that he loves Roxane or even his own kids. That made me so mad that I yelled at him.

"Well. . . If that's true then never talk to me, again! Whatever I do leads us to talk about her! If you love her so much then why do you keep leaving her?! Why stay here waiting for me and go find someone else who can do it?!" I had yelled. After that, I had stayed far away from him. One more month and it would be a year since I first met them. It was still pretty chilly.

I wouldn't go outside without a coat, pants and sneakers on. One day though, Dustfinger and Farid were walking, until they heard someone yelling they're names.

"Hey! Dustfinger! Farid! Wait!" Yelled a females voice that wasn't mine. They stopped and turned around to see a girl with brown hair running after them.

"Hey, your Lexi's friend, aren't you? Where is Lexi, anyways?" Farid ask her. She was glaring at them.

"Where is she? I know she's with you two! Tell me where she is!" She yelled at them, poking Dustfinger in the chest pretty hard. She was two years older then me.

"What are you talking about? We haven't seen her since last Sunday." Dustfinger told her, glaring back at her.

She dropped her hand and sighed, looking sadly down at the road. "Well, then I don't know where she is. . . I don't know this area as well as she does."

"What happened to her? Why are you looking for her?" Farid looked worried.

"She had a big fight with her mom. . . So she got on her bike and rode off as fast as she could. I couldn't keep up with her and the first place I thought to check was with you two, but I guess I was wrong. Can you please help me look for her!" She pleaded them. They agreed, split up and started looking.

Dustfinger had to think. Where would Lexi go if she was upset? The first place he checked was the deer stand, not there. Next, he checked the field by the baseball Diamond, not there either. He didn't know where I could be.

But, before he could think of anything else, Farid came running over to him. "I found her bike! I think I know where she is!"

"Well. . . Are you going to tell me or just stand there staring at me?"

Farid gasped for a breath. He ran all the way over here. He couldn't talk, so he grabbed Dustfinger's hand and ran.

They ended up by another baseball Diamond by a play ground and leaning against a tree was my light blue bike with its basket.

"I think she's down by the creek."

"I'll go down, you stay here and watch out for anyone. Got it?" Farid pouted, but still nodded.

When Dustfinger got down the very steep hill, he saw me sitting under the bridge, with my knees up against my chest, arms around my knees and my face hidden in my arms and hair. I wasn't wearing my shoes or my coat. I was soaking wet. He walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder. I pulled away. Not as if I was scared, but just not wanting him to touch me or stay away from me pull away.

I turned so my back was facing him. He tried again, but I still pulled away from him. He wanted to touch me without me pulling away. So, he grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into a hug.

I didn't pull away from his touch, this time. I pulled my hands out and, hesitantly, put them around him. "Your so stupid. It's cold, yet your wet, you have no shoes on and your not wearing a coat. . . Here, wear this or you'll freeze to death." He scowled me, but he said it quietly.

I pulled away slowly, still not letting him see my tear stained face. He took off his long coat and put it around me. "You know. . . Farid's up there waiting for you. So, do you want to go?" He ask, gently. He must be used to cheering up girls, he's had to cheer up his youngest and his oldest child, Roxane, Resa and Meggie.

I'm just happy that he came to get me. I held up my hands, but kept my head down. "Okay, okay. . . I take it that you want to ride on my back? Get on, then." I had nodded. He turned and I got on his back. He grabbed my shoes and coat. "You are freezing! I can feel it through my shirt!" That made me smile a little. "Did you play in the water when you came down here? Your going to freeze me!"

He was trying to make me laugh or smile, and it was working. I tried not to, but I ended up giggling. "I thought you were still mad at me for yelling at you about all that stuff before."

"Really? If I was still mad then why would I be here with you right now?"

I gripped his shoulder while he climbed the steep hill to get back up to Farid. When we got up there, Farid was just standing around, looking bored.

"I thought I told you to look out for other people!" Farid jumped a mile.

"Lexi! You got her!" Farid yelled, coming over and smiling up at me once he found my face. I smiled back down at him.

He looked so happy o see me and I loved it. It always makes me happy when I see Farid. He always looks so happy, carefree and just so cheerful.

"She's fine, she's just freezing. . . Go back to her family, tell them we found her and she's with us, okay?" Dustfinger told Farid. "We'll be at the baseball Diamond."

Farid looked sad, so I reached down and put my hand on his head. He looked up at me and I smiled. He smiled again, nodded and went running. Well, not running, he rode my bike.


	14. Chapter 10

Dustfinger walked to the baseball Diamond, not saying a word. When we were close enough to see home plate, still nothing.

"Wow. . . I've only heard you say seventeen words today. I've never heard so few words come from your mouth." He got to the grass where we usually meet, set me down, dropped my shoes and coat and looked through his backpack, frowning. "Dang it! I must have given Farid the bag with the clothes in it. . . Either Farid will come back with your clothes or when he comes back, I'll give you some dry clothes from the backpack. Okay?" I nodded. I wasn't freezing until Dustfinger put me down.

He must have been keeping me warm. I must have been shivering, because he came over to me, sat down, pulled me onto his lap and held me tightly. I felt his warmth all over, again.

"Ah. . ." I sighed, it made me sleepy.

"Stay awake until Farid comes back with warm, dry clothes. . . I think you'll already catch a cold."

I smirked.

"I'm fine. . . Your keeping , me warm for now. Why is it that dudes are a lot hotter than me?" He looked at me with a face like a ghost, with his mouth and eyes wide open. I, then, realized what he thought I meant. "No! No, it's not what you think! I meant body heat! Body heat!" I explained.

He chuckled.

"Well, I-"

"Lexi! Dustfinger! I'm here! I'm here!" Rang out Farid's voice. He was running toward us, until he saw that I was sitting on Dustfinger's lap. I smiled, got up and started running over to Farid, but I didn't get far. Dustfinger had grabbed my wrist and pulled me back down on his lap.

"Farid. . . Come here, sit down and take off the backpack." Dustfinger ordered and Farid obeyed. Farid sat in front of us and took off the bag. Dustfinger lifted me up, put me on Farid's lap, grabbed his arms, wrapped them around me and started looking in the bag for clothes that might fit me.

"Farid?" He looked down at me.

"Huh?"

"Can you please hold me tighter? I'm getting colder rather then warmer."

"Oh! Yeah!" He held me tighter and I could smell the fire and sweets, again. I don't know who smells better.

Dustfinger, who smells like outside and fire, or Farid, who smells like fire and sweets? I snuggled into Farid, but then I got a shirt thrown in my face.

"Hey!"

"Put that on. . . You'll get a lot warmer if you put warm clothes on."

"Where am I supposed to change, then?"

They looked around and since I was so close to him, I could see Farid blushing. Dustfinger pulled a blanket out of the bag and held it up.

"How am I supposed to hold that while I change?"

They ended up holding the blanket up for me while I changed. I was just scared of one of them taking a peek, so I kept looking at them to see. "Am I supposed to take off all my clothes?"

"Yes. . . Now, hurry up, my arms are getting tired."

'I don't wanna take off my bra and undies! What do I do?!' "Even my bra and undies?!" Farid jumped a little.

"If they are wet, then yes." Dustfinger told me. But when I looked up again, Farid couldn't help but look at me over the blanket to see what I was talking about. All I was wearing was my bra and undies.

"Farid! Stop looking!" I screamed while trying to cover as much as I could. He turned away as fast as he could, blushing.

I sighed. I walked out when I was fully changed, in the big clothes that is. I think these were clothes I got for Dustfinger because the jeans were way too long for my legs and the T-shirt was almost like a shirt I would go to bed in.

"These are too big. . ."

"Well. . . Would you rather wear clothes that are too small?" He just wrapped my wet clothes up in the blanket. I was still cold, but I didn't care. I put my shoes back on and, even though I didn't want to, I put my coat back on and gave Dustfinger back his.

"Ah! It feels good to be in dry clothes. . . But I wish I could still wear your coat." I pouted.

"Why? You want me to freeze, too?" That made me smile.

"No! It smells like you. You smell like fire and I love the smell of fire." He smirked. I turned to look at Farid with my hands behind my back. "Well. . . Farid smells like fire, too." I whispered.

He smiled at me, so he must have heard me.

"Well, now that you've changed, I think your family would be happy to see you, again."

"No! I don't wanna go back! Please. . . Let me stay with you two a little longer. . ." I said.

With them was the only place I feel like myself. I'm usually scared of what other people will think, but since Farid and Dustfinger are here, I can do anything and they wouldn't care. Farid, then, came over, wrapped his arms around me and set his chin on top of my head. Yeah, I didn't know he was that much taller then me.

"Let her stay a little longer. . . She doesn't want to go back yet. Please, Dustfinger?" He sighed. He's most likely sick and tired of Farid always taking my side on stuff.

"Okay, okay. . . But, if she get's sick, its not my fault." I pulled away from Farid, ran over to Dustfinger and wrapped my arms around him.

"Thanks! Do you two even know what its like to leave home for a little bit and never wanna go back?" Farid looked away, while Dustfinger shrugged.

"I bet Farid has. . . What am I saying? I know he has."

"Hey! You would be like that if you were me in that stupid story!"

I nodded.

"Yes, yes. . . Anyone would. . . Sorry I reminded you of that, again." I whispered. We walked and talked and walked some more and talked some more. But the day pasted on so quickly and just like that, the sun was down and I was falling asleep. The minuet I yawned, Farid got me on his back, but I didn't fall asleep until I was on Dustfinger's back, instead.

I had gotten too heavy for poor Farid, he tried, but he just couldn't do it. They, for the first time, realized that I talked in my sleep.

"Lexi. . . Who am I?" Farid kept asking. He liked hearing me say his name in my sleep.

"Farid. . ." I whispered. He started jumping up and down, clapping. Until he heard something he didn't like all that much. "Dustfinger. . . Come back! Please! Come back!" I almost started crying.  
>"Great. . . She even dreams about me!" Dustfinger sighed. My hands had tightened they're grip on his shoulders and I started crying. Oh, yes. . . The tears were flowing.<p>

"No! No. . . Stop! Don't go!" I started crying and screaming in my sleep. Right away, he put me down and tried waking me up. It took awhile, but they got me awake.

"Lexi! Wake up! Your having a bad dream!"

"No!" I screamed as I shot up and almost hit my head on they're heads. I looked at them, scared to death of my dream I just woke up from. I was breathing heavily, sweating like I just came out of a pool. Dustfinger was the closest one, so I hugged him, almost knocking him over. He just smoothed my hair as I cried into the nape between his shoulder and neck. Farid just stared, not caring that I was clinging to Dustfinger instead of himself. He just wanted me to stop crying, and not in a mean way.

"Hey. . . Your alright, your fine. . . . It was just a dream." He soothed. I was holding onto him like if I ever let go of him, he would be gone forever.

"Lexi. . . What did you dream about?" Farid ask.

"I. . . I don't remember. . ." But Dustfinger knew better, he knew I remembered it very well since I was still shaking with fear. He knew that, by the way I was gripping him, I dreamed of something bad that happened to himself.

"Please, I don't. . . I don't wanna leave tonight, I wanna sleep with you two. Please, Dustfinger?" I whispered to where only he could hear me.

"Okay. . . Now, who would you like to go tell your family?" I just hugged him even tighter, and wouldn't let go. I don't know what happened to Farid, but when I finally pulled away, he was gone. "Are you alright, now?" I laid my head down on his chest.

"I guess. . . You know what I dreamed about, don't you?"

"You dreamed about me leaving you or dieing, am I right?" I looked up at him.

"I dreamed about a masked man killing me, but you just left me. . . Just walked away until the masked man shot you with a gun. I wasn't dead yet, the man wanted to watch me suffer, wanted me to watch you die before I died. Right before you and Farid woke me up, he was standing above me and he started taking off his mask, but you woke me up before I could see who he was. . . All I remember about him was his eyes. They were so dark that they looked almost black. But when he was taking off his mask, one eye started to turn more white. Like he was half good, but also half evil."


	15. Chapter 11

I started shaking with fear of it happening, again. Anyone would be scared after that dream. I felt like crying again, just remembering it was the worst thing ever. He started to smooth my hair, again.

"I won't leave you. . . At least, not for awhile. Not until we know you can send us back for sure. Alright?" I just nodded. I didn't want to talk about them leaving anytime soon. Or at all for that matter. The night was silent, all you could hear was the bugs and frogs that were starting to come out more and more since it was getting closer and closer to the warmer weather.

"-xi. . . Lexi! Are you still awake?" I must have been zoned out because after I heard someone call my name, I looked around to see Farid's face, staring at me.

"Huh? Did I fall asleep or did I zone out?" This time, it was Farid who sighed. I loved it when they switched places like this.

"You might have fell asleep for a few minuets. . . Farid woke you up." Dustfinger said. I looked up at him and realized that I was still laying against him. So, of course, I get so embarrassed that Farid had come while I was sleeping like that.

I pulled away, forgetting why I was like that in the first place.

"Sorry, I fell asleep on you. . . I was just listening to the bugs and frogs, the next thing I knew I heard Farid saying my name." I said in a low voice. Ever since I had awaken, I keep saying stuff so low that they can barely hear me.

Dustfinger stood up and sat me on the ground.

"Well. . . Let's go. I'm tired and I want to go to sleep." I smiled and started getting up, but as soon as I was on my feet, I lost mt balance. Even though Dustfinger was the closer one, Farid was the one who caught me.

"Hey. . . Are you alright? Do you feel like your going to faint? Is your foot, leg or ankle hurt?" Farid ask me. All I did was smile up at him. I hated it when he was being over protective, which was a lot, but I let it pass for now.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. . . I just don't think it's a good idea for me to walk when I'm half asleep, though." He nodded and got me on his back. I ask him if I was too heavy, but he just shook his head. He wanted to carry me, he didn't want Dustfinger to do it, he didn't want me thinking that he's too weak to do something as easy as carrying me. I blushed the whole time he carried me.

"Okay, okay. . . Now, no 'Lovey-dovey' stuff from the Lovebirds. Or Lexi can still go home with her family." Dustfinger told us.

Me and Farid got even redder then we already were.

"We're not Lovebirds and we're not doing anything Lovey-dovey!" We yelled at him.

He smirked.

When we went to sleep, I really wanted to sleep next to Dustfinger, but I didn't want Farid to be too upset. So, instead, I slept between them both! I already knew that Farid fell asleep before Dustfinger, so I cuddled with Farid until he fell asleep and then, when I knew he was asleep, I turned over to cuddle with Dustfinger.

"You are one smart girl." He whispered. I grinned.

"Thanks. . . You should have known what I was going to do! Farid falls asleep way before me. You should also know what it's like to be scared to sleep because you don't want the bad dreams to come and get you. Right?" He turned on his back so he could look up at the stars. Farid always loved it when I would show and tell him all I knew about the stars.

"Sometimes I wonder how you know so much about me." I smiled softly at that.

I laid my head on his chest. I could hear his heartbeat. It was hard to believe he's not real, that he's just ink, words and paper, that he's just from a book. Why do I always think about the bad at good times? When I'm with Dustfinger, I think about Farid, but when I'm with Farid, I think about Dustfinger. When I'm happy, I think about them leaving me forever, When I'm sad or scared, I think about they're lips. How they felt, how they taste or just the way they smell.  
>Dustfinger, who always smelled like the outside and fire. Farid, who sometimes smelled like fire, outside, Gwin or even sweets. I got so many memories with them and it hasn't even been a full year, yet.<p>

Dustfinger's and Farid's faces when I brought things for them when I couldn't see them for a whole week. The time I spent teaching Farid how to ride a bike.

The first time they saw me in a dress.

Farid and Dustfinger showing me what they could do as fire-eaters.

All of those fun things we did and even the thing's not so fun like when me and Farid had a race. It was stupid to have it on the road, but we did, I ended up falling and skinning my knees and hands. I had laughed until it started to get doctored. Even the bad memories I loved to have. Even thinking about all of them, I felt sad.

"Hey. . . Are you alright, Lexi?" Ask a shocked Dustfinger.

I lifted my head, looked at him and smiled as big as I could.

"Yes. . . I'm alright. . . Just thinking about everything me, you and Farid did together. Say, if I was as prefect as Roxane, but a little bit of this me. . . Would you love me like you love her?" He sat up straight and gasped. He put his hand on my head, so I would look up at him and I did.

He opened his mouth, but shut it again, like he was thinking of what to say to that.

He shook his head.

"You just don't understand."

"The same way I don't understand that while you were in this world in the book, you wouldn't let Resa go to Mo and Meggie because you loved her in a way that you didn't want to give her up?" He looked at me like he was thinking 'Are you kidding me?'

I sat up right in front of him, looking into his eyes.

"Lexi. . ." He sighed.

"You just don't get it. . . You may think I'm just a little girl who has a crush on you, but your so wrong there. I'm almost seventeen, I've never had a boyfriend, I gave my first kiss to you, I even bought you a black teddy-bear! I got you clothes and food and this is really how you thank me?! I'm done doing anything else nice for you until you can see what all I do for you!" I whispered.

I crawled over to Farid, laid down next to him and cuddled. I thought I would go straight to sleep, but I don't think I fell asleep at all through out the night. I would try, but I only ended up opening my eyes. being too sad or mad when your trying to sleep doesn't work out, all that well. I didn't fall asleep until half an hour before sun rise.


	16. Chapter 12

After Farid and Gwin woke me up, I went to Mawmaws.

I saw Farid whenever I could, but I hadn't seen Dustfinger in, at least, two or three months.

I'm now seventeen. It didn't seem to me like Farid was aging, but he was growing like any other teenage boy his age. I had found out that if I wanted to, when I read something out, I can also read something in at the same time. I tried it with some stuffed animals to see if they'd come out looking the same as when I read them in.

Every time worked the right way I wanted it to.

"Okay. . . You should be able to read us back in the fall." Farid told me.

I looked up at him. I had been sitting on the grass by the fence by the corn field, playing with Gwin. Farid had been listening to me read aloud.

"Really? You mean I can do it?"

"That is if you want to. . . You can do it whenever you want since you can do it right, now." I smiled.

I was happy with myself and that he was happy with me.

"Hey. . . Where's Dustfinger? I haven't seen him in forever." He looked away.

I stood up, stood in front of him, took hold of his chin so he would look down at me and placed my lips on his. When I pulled away, I smiled at him with a sweet smile.

"Don't worry. . . I'm worried about him, is all." I reassured him. He's always like this when I ask him about Dustfinger, so I kept having to reassure him.

"He's always at the deer stand. . . Looking at the book you made for him." Farid told me. It felt weird not seeing Dustfinger here with us. This is the longest we've gone without seeing each other and being mad at each other, too.

I nodded and ran off toward the place Farid just spoke of.

"Hey! Wait, Lexi! Where are you going?" He yelled after me. He would find out soon enough. When I got to the ladder, I told Farid to look away from me. I was wearing a dress, so I didn't want Farid to see my undies. Even though it wouldn't be the first time, but still! He shouldn't be doing that!

I climbed to where I could look up at him. Farid was right, Dustfinger was reading the book I gave him. The book was called 'The girl in the Inkworld.' It was about me, Farid and Dustfinger in the Inkworld. I made it just for him. He loved it. He'd never had a book made just for him before.

I gave it to him the Sunday before my birthday. He had asked me why I had given it to him and all I had said was that it was because I didn't know when his birthday was. I had also made a short little story for Farid, too. I gave it to him on my birthday.

I just stared at him.

"I never thought you would like the book that much." I could tell he didn't know I was there because he jumped a mile.

He looked at me over the book.

"Where's Farid? I thought he was spending the day with you."  
>"He's down there." I pointed down at the ground. "I made him stay down because I didn't want him looking up my dress. . . By the way, I'm sorry for the fight. Ever since I met you two, I've been having a really bad case of hot temper." I told him. I looked down so I didn't have to look him in the eyes when I talked.<p>

He patted me on the head. I looked up at him.

"Your fine. . . I've just been waiting for you to talk to me, again." He told me. "It never takes long for you to forgive me. . . I think this time was the longest ever, though." I smiled at him.

How could anyone think this nice guy was a coward? I couldn't believe it. I got up, took the book from him and sat on his lap.

"Farid! You can come up now!" I yelled at him. When his head popped up, I giggled. It looked funny. "Farid. . . what's on my undies? I don't remember."

"They have diamonds and they're pink. . ." He started to realize what he just said and started blushing.

"One: You shouldn't even have looked up her dress and two. . . You shouldn't have even told her what they were even if you did see them." Dustfinger told him, while smirking.

I glared at him.

"Hey, Dustfinger. . . Don't tell him that! He'll do it!" I yelled, putting my index finger on the tip of his nose. I put my forehead on his shoulder, I was facing him. He pushed me up so he could feel my forehead.

"Your hot. . . As in you have a temp."

"Ha. . . Why do you think I'm like this? It's one of those thing's that you feel fine and out of the blue, you feel like. . . Your going to throw up." I said right before I pulled away, leaned over the side of the deer stand and out came what I had for lunch.

I could feel a hand rubbing my back, gently. Like a mother would do to her child when they get sick. I stood straight again and smiled at Farid, who was the one who rubbed my back.

"Thanks. . . I'm sorry I got sick."

"Hey. . . You could have done it on me. . . But you didn't, so that's good." Dustfinger said, smiling. He got, somehow, Farid stayed with me. I climbed down and if I fell, then Dustfinger would catch me. I had to go slow or I would get too dizzy to move. Dustfinger let me ride on his back. Farid was upset, but Dustfinger just told him that I might throw up again and Farid wouldn't like that.

After Dustfinger told him that, he was alright with me riding on Dustfinger's back instead of his. They took me back to Mawmaws. I said bye to them and told them that I would see them next Sunday because I'll be better by then.


	17. Chapter 13

Monday came around and I wasn't better yet. I was throwing up even though I wasn't eating or drinking anything.

When Sunday did come, I couldn't go to see them, I couldn't even leave the house.

On Wednesday, the phone rang. My little brother had answered it because it was Mawmaw, but he gave it to me since it was for me.

"Hello?"

"Lexi? Hey! I've never talked on one of these before. . . I kept coming over to ask where you were, until they finally let me call you on this. . . What's it called, again?" I giggled. Farid sounded so happy that it was funny. Not many can make you laugh, smile or even happy when your sick to your stomach.

"It's called a phone. . . Where's Dustfinger and please tell me no one in my family is standing close to you, I don't want anyone there to think I'm weird for having a friend who doesn't have a clue what a phone is?"

"Dustfinger is right next to me and they gave me one that I could take outside with me. . . Here, Dustfinger wants to talk to you." I was laying on the couch, watching T.V. Weirdly enough, I was watching Inkheart. I was getting better, I hadn't threw up since Tuesday.

"Hey. . . How are you feeling? Why haven't you come over? I thought you would have been better by now." Dustfinger ask. I thought it was cute that he was worried about me.

"I'm fine. I just couldn't come over because I was still sick, I just got better and we're planing to come over tonight. I still need to take it easy, but I could still come see you two. Is that all right with you?" I ask him.

"Lexi! Gwin misses you!" I heard Farid yell in the background. I smirked and giggled a little.

"Gwins been biting him and he swears up and down that it's because he misses you. . . It's also a way of saying that Farid, himself, misses you." Dustfinger told me.

"Hey! Why are your cheeks red, Dustfinger?"

"Shut up, Farid! Even though Lexi isn't here doesn't mean that she needs to know everything!"

I couldn't stop smiling. These two are so cute. They're way of telling me that they miss me. Farid trued telling me that it was Gwin who was missing me, but I think it's both of them.

"Are you still there?"

"Yeah. . . Sorry, I was just daydreaming."  
>"You do that too much." I looked up at the ceiling, trying to count the holes and cracks. "Well. . . You need to rest so. . . See you later."<p>

Beep! Beep! Beep!

I laughed. Did he mean to hang up or not? I think it's kinda funny. I obeyed what he told me and took a nap until it was almost time to go. As soon as the car pulled into the driveway, I got out and ran down the road to the baseball Diamond. I was happy to finally see them, again. I didn't know who to hug first, but when I got there, they were standing next to each other, so that made it easier because I could hug them both at once and when I did, I knocked them down to the ground. I couldn't stop laughing or smiling because I was so happy to see them. Gwin started to snuggled my cheek with his little nose. That was his way of telling me that he really, really missed me.

"Aw! I missed you too, Gwin!" I told the little marten, letting go of the dudes.

"Hey! What about me?! Didn't you miss me or even Dustfinger?" I giggled, put Gwin down and Started hugging Farid and Dustfinger, again.

"Oh, I missed all three of you. . . So, what all did you do while I was gone?" I pulled away and they looked at each other. Farid, then, looked at me and smiled.

"When I would play with Gwin, Dustfinger would sit up in the deer stand and look at the book you gave him like when you were mad at him!" Farid told me, happily. I smirked and looked up at Dustfinger to see him glaring at Farid, but also trying to hide his face from me.

I thought it was funny that we were going through this. I got on my knees, put my hands on Dustfinger's shoulders and made him look at me, but when he did, I could see the tiredness in his eyes. I pushed him down, so he was laying down, and sat on him. He tried to sit back up again and again.

"Hey! Get off me!"

I simply shook my head.

"No! It's your own fault for not sleeping right. . . You've got dark marks under your eyes!" I scolded him. He had told me to rest and now I'm telling him to rest. And if he doesn't stay still, I'm going to be sick. "If you want me to throw up on you, then go on and keep moving. . . But, if you don't then rest a little!"

He finally stopped moving. I looked down at him and saw that his eyes were closed. Me and Farid looked at each other, then looked back at Dustfinger. I leaned down over his face and put my forehead on his.

"Are you finally asleep or are you faking?" I whispered. One eye opened and looked at me.

"I'm trying to go to sleep like you told me to. . . Go talk to Farid, he missed you."

I smiled, stood up and tackled Farid. I couldn't stop laughing at the look on his face.

"Come on! Let's go talk!" But before we walked off, I glanced back at Dustfinger, who was looking at me weirdly. I kept on walking, though, instead of turning back around and talking to him, I walked and talked to Farid. But, of course, I wouldn't learn that until later on.


	18. Chapter 14

After two or three hours, I had to go home. I told them that I would, for sure, see them on Sunday. And I did, but Dustfinger was giving me the cold shoulder.

"Farid! Hi!" I yelled, giving him a big hug. I let go of him and faced Dustfinger with out stretched arms. "Dustfinger! I missed-" I went to give him a hug, but he moved away so I couldn't. "Huh? Dustfinger? But. . ." this hasn't happened for awhile. What did I do to make him act like this? I haven't done anything to upset him, I think.

I looked back at Farid, but he looked as shocked as I was.

"Was he acting like this before I came? Would you, by any chance, know why he's acting like he hates me?" Farid shrugged, he had no clue why Dustfinger was giving me the cold shoulder.

"I don't know. . . He just started doing this when you came."

"Dustfinger!" I yelled at him, turning him to face me. "What's wrong with you? Why are you acting like this. . . I haven't done anything and I didn't start this, so why are you acting as though I started this?!"

He got to my level and he still smelled like fire. He must be doing tricks with it.

"Why don't you try asking your new crush? And don't say he isn't because you haven't been all over me like you used to be." Dustfinger whispered.

My mouth just fell open. How could he think that now I love Farid more then him now. I do love Farid more then I did when I first met him, but I don't love him more then Dustfinger!

"What are you talking about? You are being a Baka right now!"

"What does that even mean?"

"That your an idiot!" I screamed in his face. I don't know why, but with him talking, I just wish he would shut up or leave or even that I had never met him. I now didn't want to talk or even see him anymore. So, I marched off back to Mawmaws. When I got home that night, I was a grump. I couldn't sleep, though.

Between three and four in the morning, though, I grabbed INKSPELL and started reading the part when Orpheus read Dustfinger home. But, of course, I read it aloud, only loud enough for me to hear, but not to wake anyone up. After I read that part alone, I finally went to sleep.

Thursday night, we went to Mawmaws and since I've read the book, I have been a lot happier, so I went to see them. Farid and Dustfinger. I first looked at the baseball Diamond, wasn't there. Then, looked at the deer stand, not there either. I then looked at the place where they sleep and there is where I found Farid, but when he looked up at me, his eyes were red and puffy, while his face was tear stained.

He had been crying.

I ran over to him and gave him a big hug, he was still crying. I smoothed his hair and shushed him for comfort the best I could.  
>"Hey. . . You're fine, you're okay. . . What's wrong?" I slowly pulled away, wiping away his tears. It looked like his tears hadn't stopped since whatever it was happened.<p>

"He. . . He's gone!"

"What do you mean?"

"Dustfinger. . . I went to sleep with him here, but when I woke up. . . He was gone! He left Gwin and his bag and even the bear you got for him and the book, too!" Farid cried.

He couldn't have just left Farid, Gwin and his stuff behind. Unless. . . I felt like crying, too when I remembered.

"Farid. . . I. . . I'm so sorry. . . It's all my fault." I felt tear drops run down my cheeks.

"Lexi. . . What do you mean?"

"This morning, I kinda read the part in INKSPELL where Orpheus read Dustfinger back into his story. . . I didn't mean to! I was mad and I didn't think anything of it! I'm so sorry. . ." I cried.

I didn't know what to do. I thought of something. I took my backpack off and took out INKDEATH. I turned it right to page 234, chapter 27.

" 'Roxane. . .' The marten shot past her. It couldn't be true. The dead did not come back, even when they promised they would. But the figure emerging from the shadows near the stables was so very familiar. Gwin hissed when he saw the other marten sitting on his masters shoulder. 'Roxane.' He spoke her name as if he wanted to savor it on his tongue, like something he hadn't tasted in a long time. It was a dream, one of the dreams she had almost every night. Dreams in which she saw his face so clearly that she touched it in her sleep, and the next day her fingers still remembered his skin. Even when he put his arms around her, carefully, as if he wasn't sure whether he had forgotten how to hold her, she didn't move - because her hands did not believe they could hold him again. But her eyes could see him. Her ears could hear him breathing. Her skin felt his, as warm as if the fire were inside him, after he had been so terribly cold. He had kept his promise. And even if he was coming to her only in a dream, it was better then nothing. . . So much better. 'Roxane! Look at me. Look at me.' He took her face between his hands, caressed her cheek, wiped away the tears she so often felt on her skin when she woke. And only then did she draw him close to her, let her hands tell her that she wasn't just embracing a ghost. It couldn't be true. She wept as she pressed her face to his. She wanted to hit him for having left her for the boys sake, for all the pain she had already felt on his account, so much pain, but her heart gave her away. 'What is it?' He kissed her once more. the scars. They were gone, as if the white women had washed them away before sending him back to life. She took his hands and laid them against his cheeks. 'Well, who'd have thought it!' He said, stroking his own skin with his fingers as if it were a strangers. 'They've really gone! Basta wouldn't like that at all.' Why had they let him go? Who had paid the price for him, as he had paid for the boy? Why did she ask? He was back. That was all that mattered, back from the place from which there was no return. Where all others were. Her daughter, the father of her son, Cosimo. . . So many dead. But he had come back. Even if she saw in his eyes that, this time, he had been so far away that something of him was still left there. 'How long will you stay this time?' She whispered. He did not answer at once. Gwin rubbed his head against his neck and looked at him, as if he, too, wanted to know the answer. 'As long as death allows.' He replied at last, and placed her hand on his beating heart. 'What does that mean?' She whispered. But he closed her mouth with a kiss." I read almost the whole chapter.


	19. Chapter 15

By the time I was done, he stood behind me. Dustfinger. He was back, but, of course, his scars were gone.

"But. . . I thought I would never come back here."

Me and Farid, still shocked, just stared at his unscarred face. Farid was the first to hug him. But me, it took a little longer to snap out of it. I didn't know when I loved him better, with or without the three scars.

"Dustfinger! Your back!"

I've never seen a boy hug a man so tightly before. It made me want to laugh because Dustfinger was trying to push him away, but I didn't laugh since I was still frozen by the sight of seeing him. Yeah, I just saw him last night, but that's not the reason. The reason I was frozen like this was because of the thought that I just read read one of my favorite characters out of his book, away from the woman I hate the most from his book.

"Hello. . . Lexi? Are you alright?" I looked at them and it scared me when I realized that they were in my face. I, then, couldn't help myself any longer. I flung myself at him, which made my lips crash into his.

Was I shocked? Yes, why wouldn't I be. But did I pull away? No, I never wanted to let go.

Did Dustfinger pull away, though? No, I thought he would, but he didn't. Instead, he held on to me. I could feel Farid hugging both me and Dustfinger. I wanted to stay like this forever, but, of course, it didn't.

I was the first to pull away because I wasn't breathing while I was kissing him. The thing is, though, Dustfinger, for once, was kissing me back. When I pulled away, I laid my head on his shoulder.

"Why are you crying? You don't have to cry because I came back. . . Your the one that did it, anyways!"

"Don't worry. . . They are tears of joy!" I whispered. I smiled while I wiped my face free of tears. I rapped my arms around both Dustfinger and Farid, not letting go anytime soon.

"If this is how you act when I come back. . . Then, I wonder how you'll act when your reading us home."

I pulled back and looked at him.

"I hope that never happens. . . When I found out you were gone, my heart stopped beating, I couldn't breath and I almost started crying, I never ever want you or Farid to leave me. You two are my only friends and what would I do then?" I ask. Neither Dustfinger nor Farid answered me. It made me mad, but I didn't care, I couldn't even remember why I was mad at him before. "So. . . What did it feel like to see Roxane after you came back to life?"

I was laying down on the grass and looked up at the sky. Dustfinger looked down at me, his face looked younger without the three scars.

"I don't wanna talk about that, because I know that if I say something to make you mad. . . So, how long was I gone? A lot happened in the book." I stared at him.

I could remember what part I read him into the book and what part I read him out of, but I thought he would have felt like he was in there for one night. Its really weird.

"You've been gone for one night. . . While you think you've been gone for two books." I said. I stopped caring, though, since me and Farid are happy he's back. We walked around block after block, talking and talking. He told me about his world and showed Farid the new tricks he could do.

Reading about it was cool, but seeing it was even cooler.

"Cool! Do it, again! Do it, again!" I jumped up and down in one place, clapping. He did the fire butterfly and bluejay, again. I loved the butterfly the most. It flew over to me, but I kept it off my skin. "Wow. . . I love it! Its so pretty!" I whispered. I knelt on the ground with the fire butterfly in front of me on a blade of grass.

I couldn't help myself, my finger started reaching out to it.

"Wait. . . Lexi, don't-"

But, before he could finish, I touched the butterflies wing and burnt my finger.

"Ouch!" I whispered as I jerked away.

Gwin was the first one in front of me, then was Dustfinger.

He sighed.

"I thought you would know by now that you should never touch, let alone play, with fire." Dustfinger said. I smiled up at him.

"I guess I haven't learned, yet. . . It hurts." I stuck my burnt finger in my mouth, thinking it would stop the pain.

"You shouldn't do that because you're doing it wrong. . . Here, let me do it." He pulled my finger out of my mouth and put it in his while looking in his bag for the ointment. By the way, he was sucking my finger.

I couldn't help, but blush, which caused my whole face to turn brighter red like a tomato.

"Farid. . . Get in here and get that ointment out for her finger. . . I swear, you need this stuff more then we do." Dustfinger said. Even with my burning finger felling like it's on fire, I couldn't help, but giggle at what he just said.

"Here!" Farid said.

Dustfinger pulled my finger out of his mouth, got some of the ointment on his two fingers and started gently rubbing it on my index finger. My face just kept getting hotter and hotter. I really don't remember Dustfinger being this hot. . .

Again, body temp was like he was made up of fire.

"Lexi. . . Are you even listening to a word I'm saying?"

I, then, snapped back to reality.

"Uh. . . Nope" I said with a big smile.

He sighed.

"Lexi will always be Lexi. . . I asked you what time you have to be back."

"Oh! For as long as I want. I am very trusted."

Farid and Dustfinger looked at each other and then back at me.

"Surely not the way I would bring up my child."

My smile went bye-bye. I was trying not to yell at him for two reasons: One, he shouldn't talk bad about my family, and two, I always hated it when he talked about his kids, wife or even Resa, anyone else was fine, but no one he loved or his family. But, of course, I didn't want to scream and ruin the moment.


	20. Chapter 16

I looked up at Farid and pounced. I knocked him down on the road. Then, I looked up at Dustfinger and did the same, until they were laying next to each other.

"What are you doing?" Ask Dustfinger, trying to find me out.

"I'm going to make sure you two stay with me forever. . ." I whispered, looking up at the sky so they wouldn't see my tears.

"What did you say, Lexi?"

I used my shirt to wipe away my tears, then looked down at him with a smile.

"I want to be with you forever!" I beamed at him.

Farid smiled up at me and somehow got me off of Dustfinger and underneath him.

Wow. . . Since when has he been this strong? Well, then. . . I'm okay with that. I like dudes that are stronger. I was still shocked. Farid started leaning down to kiss me, but instead of his lips touching mine, they touched a little, furry one.

While Farid was moving in with his eyes closed, Gwin had gotten in the way and instead of Farid kissing me, he kissed Gwin. I started to die of laughter.

"What. . . Gwin?!" Farid yelled.

"Aw. . . How cute! Gwin wanted a kiss from Farid!" I said, happily.

It was just too cute! I love it that I went from not even being looked at or talked to by any other dude my age or even other then in my family, but now I have Dustfinger, Farid and Gwin. I pretty much grew up around a lot of girls. But since I have a brother, I know a little about dudes.


	21. Chapter 17

"Hey, Farid. . . You remember the code for my bike, right?" He sat on me instead of laying on me. And I started having dirty thoughts.

"Yeah! You showed me!" He smiled.

"Okay. . . You can go get it and ride. . . Me and Dustfinger will be at the pond, okay?" He nodded, got off me and started running. And he didn't forget Gwin.

I got up, grabbed Dustfinger's hand and dragged him towards the pond.

"Hey, Lexi. . . Wait, why are we. . . Lexi! Talk to me!" He kept yelling at me. I couldn't help, but smirk more and more.  
>Finally, we got to the pond. Again, somewhere I would get in big trouble if my mom found out. I call this place my secret place. I giggled while he kept asking. I finally stopped when I brought him around behind a little shed. I stopped him, pulled him down a little and pressed my lips against his. He never pulled away from me, which I loved.<p>

If anything, he was pulling me closer to him.

'Well. . . I guess reading him into the book over night made him realize he loves me more then he thought!' I thought.

I had grabbed his collar to pull him down to my level, but now that he was willing to stay like this, I wrapped my arms around his neck. To make it easier for him, he put his hands on my butt, got a good grip and lifted me so I had my legs wrapped around his waist.

I pulled away a bit so I could catch my breath and smiled while his mouth moved to my neck.

"You know. . . You should be gentle with me. . . I have never done this before in my life. . ." I whispered in his ear. "I'm also a little scared that we'll be found and you'll go to jail for what's my fault."

"So. . . Now your having second thoughts about what you started? Well, then. . . We better stop before we go too far." He started pulling away until I slid off of him, but I gripped his hand, and wouldn't let it go. I put his hand on my chest, right between my boobs.

"Tell me the truth and tell it to me right now." I looked up at him to see him looking down at me with his mouth open, but then he closed it. I could tell by the look on his face that he was wondering what I was talking about. "Do you truly love me or are just doing this because you miss Roxane or. . . Is it because you feel sorry for me because you and Farid are leaving soon?" I ask him.

'What should I say? I do have feelings for Lexi, but I don't want to cheat on Roxane. . . Not counting what we just did. . .' Dustfinger ask himself in his head.

"Well. . . Lexi, I-"

"Lexi? Dustfinger?" Ask a males voice. A questioning males voice.

When I heard it say my name, I jumped a mile. I turned to look, I didn't hear anyone on the leaves, we are in the woods after all, I saw Farid. How could I forget that I sent the boy to get my bike and I told him where we were. Of course he would come find us. How could I forget about a fourteen. . .

Is he still fourteen? He does look older. . . But, Dustfinger doesn't look any older. Wouldn't that make Farid. . . Sixteen? Wow. that's weird. I had heard Dustfinger was thirty in the book, so he would be. . . thirty-five, maybe? I don't know. Ages are hard to remember.

Hey! I'm standing here with Dustfinger's hand on my boobs and Farid's staring at us, sadly, but I'm thinking about how old Farid and Dustfinger are? I am a very stupid blonde!

"Lexi. . . Why is your hair messy?" He ask me, looking so sad.

I think he knows why, but doesn't want it to be true. I felt sorry for him. I removed Dustfinger's hand from my chest, placed it at his side and stared at the ground.

"I'm sorry, Farid. . . I just-" I wanted to cry, but there were no tears in my eyes, no sting I always feel before I cry and I've cried too much. I'm not going to cry, anymore. But, I'm not going to scream or yell, either. "Farid. . . You know that I love Dustfinger. . . But, I also love you. . . I'm just trying to choose. . . Farid or Dustfinger? You have no clue how hard it is for me to choose. . . I still don't know who I really love, though. So, please, don't get upset about this."

I looked at one, then the other, then back, again.

"Fine, then. . . Wait. . . When was the last time you drank something, Lexi?" Dustfinger ask, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms over his chest. I smiled weirdly up at him.

"I don't remember. . ." I told him, backing away slowly.

But, I forgot that there was a big, steep hill behind me, so I fell down it. I rolled and rolled and rolled, until I reached the bottom. When I stopped, I just laid down on my back, staring up at the sky. And, of course, I hurt. My head, my arms, my back and my legs. When I knew the dudes were close, all I said was, "Ouch!" and I swear either something was bleeding, broken or even gone. I hurt everywhere.

"Hey! Are you alive?" I turned my head to see Dustfinger and Farid working they're way down the hill to me.  
>"I said ouch, so I have to be alive! I think something I broke something." I told them.<p>

"What do you think is broken? What hurts the most?"

I glared up at Dustfinger.

"I don't know! I'm shocked I'm not crying yet!"

Farid got to me first.

Oh, my god! He's good at doing that. . . Better then Dustfinger, at least.

"Lexi. . . Your arm is bleeding. There's a big gash!"

"So. . . I don't wanna see it. I just want my head to stop pounding. It's starting to make me dizzy."

"Hm. . . I wonder why? You did just roll down a hill, most likely hit your head on the wood up there and a tree, and. . . Well, you're going to hurt." Dustfinger pointed out.

Like I didn't already know that. He just told me what I already knew. It annoys me when people do that, but right now, I don't feel like talking. I didn't want to move, either. I didn't want to do anything really.

Dustfinger and Farid were talking to me, but I wasn't listening to them. I was zoned out. Someone sat me up.

"Lexi. . . What's my name?" I looked up at Dustfinger.

"You're Dustfinger, he's Farid and I'm Lexi. . . Now why do I feel so out of it? Do I have a concussion?"

"No. . . I think your just shaken up. . . And nothings broken. Just that bloody gash in your arm. We can clean that up after we get up that hill." Dustfinger said. I looked at him in the eyes.

"Ha! Easier said then done. It's hard going back up there!" I laughed, but it hurt. It looked like Farid brought my backpack, so I held out my hand to him and he gave it to me. I dug around in it, until I found my 'warriors in pink' scarf that I use in my hair, wrapped it around my arm where the gash was and tied it as tight as I could get it. Farid made it go tighter then I got it.

"Why did you do that?"

"Because I don't want it to get too dirty. . . I'd rather wrap this around it then having to go to the doctors for it."  
>They agreed with me there.<p> 


	22. UPDATE! Part 2!

OH MY GOD! I had put the next chapter for 1 big wish come true, but before I knew it. . . IT WAS GONE! I looked away for just one second and poof! It was gone! And it was 1317 words long! I am going to cry. . . That has never happened to me before. . . I am going to cry. . . I am not doing that again until Wednesday. . . I can't believe it. . . How could it do that to me? And it took me at least an hour or 2! *Screams at the top of my lungs* Well. . . Yeah. . . Night!


	23. Chapter 18

I wasn't feeling well enough to go up myself and Farid's a really good climber, so I clung to his back. Even with me on his back, Farid was able to get to the top, drop me off and still help Dustfinger up. It made me laugh how Farid was helping him while also Dustfinger was trying to help Farid. I don't think Farid needed help, at all.

When they were both up to where I could see them while I was sitting back against the shed, I smiled and waved at them.

"Hey, boys! Took you long enough, Dustfinger." I giggled even though the gash in my arm was killing me.

"The only way you got up here before me was because of Farid. . . Other wise, I would be up here _way _before you." Dustfinger told me.

My jaw dropped.

Yeah, I knew it was true, but hearing it come from his mouth was the worst thing ever.

"Oh, yeah?" I glared at him. "Just get over here and fix my arm." I stared at the only blood red leaf on the ground, partly sticking out from under my right foot. I felt like throwing a fit about how mean he was being to me.

Someone pushed my gash. It hurt so badly that I let out a little scream. I must have zoned out because Dustfinger does that to a bruise when I'm zoned out and not listening to what he was saying.

"Hey. . . That did hurt. . ." I had tears in my eyes. Anyone would if he did that to a gash in they're arm. It ran from my elbow to a few inches away from my wrist.

"Well, then don't zone away from the here and now. . . It's getting really annoying."

"Well, sorry! If you don't like it then leave me alone and let Farid doctor it. . ." I didn't yell, that was said in a whisper.

Dustfinger just kept on fixing it.

Did he not hear me? All well. . . I thought we would be at least friends before I met them, but it doesn't seem like it.

Maybe it's because we love each other that we fight.

"I'm sorry. . ." I whispered while pulling my knees up against my chest and wrapped my good arm around them, burying the bottom half of my face in them.

He looked up at me.

"What did you say?"

I just shook my head.

Farid was watching as Dustfinger's hands move up and down my arm. The look on his face made me giggle. He was staring wide-eyed with his mouth hanging open. I looked back at Dustfinger. It reminded me of when he fixed up my ankle after Gwin had bit me that first day.

That very first day, though, I felt a lot different then I do now.

"There. . . All fixed. . . Oh! and in return don't fall off your bike anytime soon, okay?" I softly smiled at him.

"I can try! But I can't make any promises."

"Maybe you did hurt your head. . . Or why else would you be smiling like that?"

That made me giggle a bit.

"Maybe I did. . . I don't really know, but I'm tired and can't go to sleep." I frowned, more like pouted. I loved sleeping and they knew it.

"What do you think your mom will think when she sees that?" Dustfinger pointed to my bandaged arm. I looked at it for a few seconds before looking back up at him.

I just shrugged.

"I don't know. . . She might just think I fell off my bike and someone doctored it."

Farid laughed, but Dustfinger just stared at me. I cocked my head to the side to look at him.

"Dustfinger. . . What's wrong? Why are you staring at me like that?"

"You haven't told your mom about us? Haven't you at least told anyone where you've been when you leave?" I smirked.

"I think five of my cousins have at least seen you. . . And my lil' brother, aunt, grandma and great grandma have seen Farid. I think they think I'm going to his house or something when I leave. . . I don't really know what they think. I'm not them." I said. Dustfinger just shook his head. Farid stopped laughing.

I thought it was funny, but I guess they didn't. I stood up and stretched.

"I saw the masked man, again." I told them and that got something out of them.

"What? What masked man?" Farid ask, but Dustfinger answered before I had a chance to.

Thanks a lot Dustfinger!

"You mean the masked man from your dream? The one with the one dark and one light eye?" I nodded. "When? How?"  
>"The other night. He was in my dream, But it wasn't the same dream. . . This one. . . He was just talking to me." I held out my hands to them to help them up. For a change, Dustfinger took my hand, but Farid pushed it away. How weird is that?<p>

"What did he say to you?" I looked up at him. Dustfinger really looked worried. Did he know something that I didn't? If so. . . I want him to tell me!

"He wants me to meet him at the place where it all started on 0. 7. 6 at one. . . Then I'll learn the truth. But I don't get it. What does that even mean?" They both shrugged. I sighed. I thought telling them would help me, but they are no help at all. I pushed Dustfinger lightly, playfully. "Your supposed to help me! Why aren't you helping?"

"Because I was thinking. . . Could it mean the place where you first met me, Farid and Gwin?" Dustfinger ask me, with his hand under his chin, looking down, but not at me or Farid. I was shocked.

This might be mean, but, since when has Dustfinger been this smart?

"You could be right, I guess. . . But why hadn't I thought about that?" I ask, but no one answered me. I puffed out my cheeks. I do that whenever I mess up on the words to a song or don't get my way. Which I was so not getting my way because I was wanting them to speak when they wouldn't. "Fine, then. . . I should probably get going. . . Unless you want me to stay the night with you guy's?" I did puppy-dog eyes at Dustfinger since he could send me home whenever he wants to. He looked at me with one eyebrow arched up.

"Is that your way of asking?"

I grinned up at him.

"Maybe. . . I would even go ask if I could~" I said. I was trying not to say 'Pretty please with a cherry on top?' Because I think that would be too childish. But, hey! It is me we're talking about!

"I want you to stay! I want you to teach me more about the stars!" Farid grabbed my shoulders. He was standing behind me. I put my hands on his and smiled a little ways up at him.

Hey! Stop growing taller then me Farid!

I looked at Dustfinger.

"I was hoping not to say this, but. . . Pretty please with a cherry on top?" I begged. Farid thought it was funny because I could feel him shake a little.

"Fine. . . But don't take too long. So, go." He sighed. I clapped, hugged him and went running. I tried to run all the way there, but I hate running, so I ended up walking fast the rest of the way.


	24. Chapter 19 Part 1

I went inside, to the kitchen and sat down in the corner chair by the table.

"So. . . Can I stay the night with-"

"No. . . You spend too much time with Farid." My jaw dropped. I almost spit out my drink.

Nana let me every time Farid asked, but the only time I ask, I get told no. What the heck?! Why is that? It's not my fault everyone likes Farid a lot more then me.

"Please? If no one can pick me up tomorrow then I can be picked up Sunday. They won't mind." I shrugged.

"No. . . You are a teenage girl and no one wants you coming home one day and being pregnant." I slammed my hands down on the table.

"Nana! You really think that? I won't do that! I promise!" I said. Nana, my grandma, was no of the few people that trust me, but I can't believe that she would think about that. "Well. . . I don't care. I'm still leaving to stay the night. . . And you won't be able to find us." I went stomping into Mawmaws room, filled up my backpack with clean clothes, grabbed my drink and left. "I'll be back sooner or later!" I yelled.

Shoot. . . Dustfinger didn't say where to meet them. I walked to the deer stand, hoping they were there and they were!

"Hi, guy's. . . I'm never going home, again." I told them while plopping down by Farid, but in front of Dustfinger. I pouted, crossed my arms over my chest and wouldn't look up at Dustfinger or Farid.

"And. . . Why would that be?" Dustfinger ask me. I kept my head down.

"Because. . . Nana thinks I'm going to get pregnant. . . But with. . . Farid's child. . ." Dustfinger chuckled and Farid blushed like crazy. I looked up to see Dustfinger smirking down at me.

"Really? I was wandering how long it would take someone to think about that." I looked at Farid.

"Farid. . ."

"Why would she think that?" He ask, childishly.

I smiled at his cuteness.

"Because a lot of teenage girls my age are. . . They want to be safe rather then sorry."

"Oh. . ." He looked shy right then.

Why can he be cute like that?!

"Okay. . . Would you rather me stay the night or not? It's up to you."

Farid looked up at me. Dustfinger hasn't said a word for a while, what's up with that?

"Don't make me choose! You might get mad at my answer!"

"No I won't. I promise."

"Okay. . . I want you to stay the night. . ." I grinned.

**OK OK! I know this one was short but the next chapter will be the last one! So don't get mad!**


	25. Chapter 20 part 2

I stayed the night and when I went home on Sunday, I got in big trouble. But, that never stopped me from going to see them. Even if I had to sneak away on a Sunday.

It became time for them to finally go back to they're book. We had planed it for a week. It was going to happen on a Sunday when I come over to Mawmaws, but I didn't want to send them back, I didn't even want to go to church. I had to go, though. Not only to send them back home, but, I also wanted to tell them about my dream.

I cried all the way to the deer stand. When I got there, I hugged Dustfinger and Farid, but wouldn't let go.

"I don't want you two to go home! I will miss you too much!" I cried. Farid hugged me back and so was Dustfinger. I pulled away, tears falling down my face, and looking up at them.

"Lexi. . . You have to. If you don't then our story will not end right." Dustfinger told me.

Gwin climbed onto my shoulder and rubbed his little, furry head against my cheek.

"Even Gwin doesn't want to go!" I was trying to change they're minds, but it wasn't working. Dustfinger just shook his head, saying 'No.'

"Fine. . ." I said. I pulled a little something out of my pocket. I gave one to Farid and One to Dustfinger. Farid's was a bracelet and Dustfinger's was a necklace. Farid's bracelet was a pattern of red and black beads, and in the middle of it was a red heart bead.

Dustfinger's necklace was easy to hide under his shirt. It was two black and one red string braided into one. On it was one little bead that looked like a flame.

After they looked at them, they looked at me in shock. I was barely able to muster a smile.

"I made them for you to remember me by!" Even though I was smiling, I was still crying.

"Lexi!" Farid crashed into me for a hug. He is so cute when he's sad. I shouldn't be thinking that! He shouldn't even be sad. All of us are upset, even Dustfinger is.

"Aw, Farid! You're going to make me cry even more!" I smoothed his hair and rubbed his back.

"Farid. . . It's time to go." Dustfinger said from behind Farid. I looked at him, let go of Farid and hugged Dustfinger. He was shocked by this, but he did hug me back.

"Please. . . Tell me that you'll miss me as much as I'll miss you." I whispered in his ear. He moved his mouth closer to mine.

"I will. . . But. . . Don't tell anyone." I felt him smirk. I smiled into his shoulder.

Boy, was I going to miss them. I pulled away and wiped away my tears.

"Okay. . . I better read you two home before I change my mind. . . Are you ready?" I set my backpack down and grabbed INKSPELL first. "Farid. . . I'm going to read you home first. Okay?" I said.

He looked sad.

"Okay. . . Dustfinger is coming too, right?"

"Not in your book, but you will see him soon. I promise."

He nodded and ran over to hug me, again. I had to hug him back. I pulled away slowly, trying not to cry. I read the story from where Farid was read from. When I knew he was almost gone, I had to try not to cry or I would stop reading and then something bad would happen.

"Lexi. . . He's gone." I heard Dustfinger say. I looked up to see him. Just Dustfinger. I couldn't hold them back any longer so I rushed over to Dustfinger, hugged him and cried into his chest.

"I. . . I can't believe I sent Farid away!" I cried. He just rubbed my back, slowly, trying to comfort me. It worked. Slowly, but it did.

"It's okay. . . I don't know what I could tell you to cheer you up since we will never see each other, so I can't really-"  
>"You really aren't helping." I said as I pulled back, got on my tipy-toes and kissed him. He must be getting used to me doing this because he kissed back not long after I kissed him.<p>

I pulled away from him so fast that I even took a few steps back.

"Hurry, before I change my mind. . . I don't want Farid to be alone.

He got all his stuff together and waited.

I put INKSPELL back and pulled out INKDEATH, instead. I read it, but I cried. It was hard to read and cry, but I did it. When I knew he was gone, I dropped my book and fell to my knees, crying my eyes out.

"So. . . Have you changed your mind yet?" A voice said from behind me. I jumped, but then I remembered who that voice belonged to. I didn't say a word to him.

"Oh! So, now that I'm not in your dreams, you won't talk to me?"

"What do you want? I didn't even know you were really!" I hissed without turning around to look at him.

"Well. . . Sorry to tell you, but I'm not just in your dreams. . . I am very much so alive. . . So, what's your answer? Will you take my offer or not?" I finally turned to look at him.

"What offer? I don't remember a offer from you."

He cam walking over to me and knelt in front of me. He caressed my cheek while looking into my eyes and grinning.  
>"You don't remember? Well, I did tell you last night in that dream." He told me. I shook my head.<p>

"I. . . Don't remember."

"Well. . . I'll remind you. . . You were really sad about reading them home. So, to cheer you up, I told you that I could fulfill any wish to make you happy. . . But, it would come with a price. You refused, telling me that your wish had already been fulfilled. Before you woke up, I told you again."

"Who are you and where did you come from?"

"My name is Tristan and I'm from. . . Well, you've read the book 'The forbidden game' right?" I nodded. "Well. . . I am one of those Shadowmen." He told me, while moving closer and closer. I jerked back, staring at him with wide eyes.  
>No. . . This can't be true.<p>

"But. . . I don't remember you in the book."

"Well, that's because you couldn't read out Julian because he's dead and I was born not long ago so I came out." I gasped. "Oh. . . Are you scared of me now? I knew I shouldn't have told you that."

"So. . . Does this mean that you've been following me everywhere I go? Is that why I've felt like someone was watching me for so long?" He placed his forehead on mine.

Wait! how did he get so close, so fast?

"Yes. . . Yes to all of that. . . When I first heard about Julian loving a human, I thought that he was crazy. . . Until I met you. Now I understand how he felt."

'Lexi! Snap out of it! He's going to kiss you and your falling for it!' I snapped back to the here and now when I heard Zero's voice in my head. I looked away and started pushing him away slowly.

"No. . . I can't do this. . . I'm sorry but I can't right after I sent Dustfinger and Farid home." I whispered.

"Okay, then. . . Tell me one wish that you wish to come true."

"The only wish I want is to either see them again or go to find them in the Inkworld." His grin got even bigger then it already was.

"Then. . . I will give it to you." He reached in really fast and put his lips on mine for a kiss. I did not kiss him back. When he pulled away, he started to disappear, but before he could, I grabbed his wrist.

"What?"

"Wait. . . I just. . . Are you staying around? I just don't want to be alone. . ." I started to get shy, and the way he was looking at me, I think he was thinking that I'm being cute right now.

"Aw. . . I'm staying around. I will not be leaving you any time soon. Alright?" I nodded.

Why am I acting so weird? I haven't felt like this for the longest time.

"Okay. . ."


	26. UPDATE! pART 3!

Hi! I just wanted to let you know that the next story is called '2 big wishes come true?!' and I don't know when it will come out.


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